Duan Wenyang used a whip, his shifu Hulugu did not.
Twenty plus years ago, in the match between Hulugu and Qi Fengge they had both used swords, but today, he had perhaps discovered another branch along his martial journey, and no longer preferred the sword, in this moment against Shen Qiao, the other with sword raised and wind rising, robe billowing, sword qi like a rainbow through cloud, a crane towards vast sky, he surged towards Hulugu, the people in the crowd felt thundering in their ears, like ten thousand horses, or ten thousand acres of blue water, they scrunched their faces, those that were weaker, their ears grew painful, unable to withstand the onslaught, they had to activate their qi to defend themselves.
During shijiandahui, Shen Qiao had been an observer, although they knew his wugong was extraordinary, a pretty Daoist, kind and elegant, really didn’t emanate any kind of threat, until he had crossed paths with Yuan Xiuxiu, did people realize the meaning of the phrase “deceived by appearances”, but to be shaken to the core, that was now.
Shen Qiao’s move, with its ruthless edge, intimidation, momentum surging, the sword was as its name suggests, truly the image of rivers and mountains despairing.
As the crowd looked on in horror and awe, Shen Qiao was aware, this time, he had used nine parts of his full strength, it might have been enough for a fair match with Yi Bichen, but was still not enough to fight Hulugu.
Masters having an exchange, onlookers may not have a clue, but as soon the masters themselves made contact, both sides would know.
To look at stances, how deep a person’s inner qi was, could be felt by the pressure around them, since Shen Qiao started practicing the zhengqi from <Zhu Yang Ce>, and remolded his meridians, even if it wasn’t a thousand li a day, compared to before, he had still entered a brand new realm, if only he had more time, one day he could become an opponent worthy of Hulugu.
Only Hulugu had several decades on him in strength, and was previously a figure worthy of fighting Qi Fengge, in these twenty years what kind of opportunities had presented, breaking through what kind of limit, returning to the jianghu after seclusion, a sure hold on the ranking of number one in the world, and having no visible rival within the central plains wulin, even Yi Bichen had lost to him, Shen Qiao wanting to win now, the chances were slim.
But even if the chances were slim, it didn’t mean he would acquiesce without a fight.
In a fight, a breath can hold ten thousand permutations, a sliver of chance if seized, can rencounter life at the brink of desperation, turn defeat into victory, Shen Qiao admitted that there was some distance between himself and Hulugu, but this kind of distance was not enough for him to sit and wait for death.
Sword qi immense and multiplying, like stormy seas beating the shore whelmed towards Hulugu, in an instant it was directly upon him, even Duan Wenyang couldn’t withstand it and was forced back a couple of steps, Hulugu hadn’t moved, but the expression in his eyes, compared to the indifference from before, carried a layer of severity.
Hulugu suddenly thew up both sleeves, and slammed them down, directly suppressing some of the immense sword qi, and then effortlessly his entire body rose up and flew towards Shen Qiao, his right palm extended.
This move was quite ordinary, nothing extraneous, but Shen Qiao felt as if his sword qi suddenly met an indestructible stone wall, not only was it unable to break through the stone, but was refracted back, greater than his own zhengqi.
Shen Qiao had predicted this, and didn’t appear surprised, he didn’t meet it head-on, instead avoided the blinding edge, borrowed the other’s zhengqi to ascend several more chi into the air, and then sword and body as one, drove down towards Hulugu.
To the crowd, they could no longer distinguish which was sword and which was the person, Shen Qiao’s speed couldn’t be compared to an arrow, only to wind and lightning, but his form was agile, not of the same nature as wind and lightning, it was more like a shroud of vapour, the complex rendered simple, sound rendered quiet, form rendered formless.
From the side, Duan Wenyang saw this all clearly, and was shocked, the advance in Shen Qiao’s strength had been fast, and scary, with these moves, could be considered far exceeding himself.
In truth, Shen Qiao’s strength now was still less than before the poisoning, it was only thanks to the practice of Zhu Yang Ce’s zhengqi, that his progress had surprised others, but if Duan Wenyang had seen Shen Qiao’s previous wugong, then he certainly wouldn’t be so surprised.
But Hulugu was Hulugu, Shen Qiao could hardly deal with him through one move, his foot tapped lightly upon the ground, and countless stone tiles burst from the surface, drawn by his zhengqi, each piece transformed into a blade edge, and shot towards Shen Qiao!
Stone and sword qi collided, the numerous pieces crumbling and flying in all directions, from the two fronts of zhengqi burst a greater energy, many people could not dodge it in time, could not circulate their own qi in defence in time, or their wugong was simply not enough, most grimaced and ducked out of the way, some even cried out in pain, there were even some who had their faces and necks scratched by the debris, fresh blood trickling, a scene of suffering.
For people like Duan Wenyang, Yi Bichen, etc., the debris could only get within half a chi before dropping to the ground, they were entirely unharmed, but they both had furrowed their brows.
Duan Wenyang furrowed his brows because he originally thought his shifu in a fight against Shen Qiao, if not entirely effortless, should at least be a simple feat, after all his ranking according to Yuan Zixiao was lower than Yi Bichen, he couldn’t imagine then, how after several moves had passed between the two, his shifu had begun to take things seriously, no longer holding anything back.
Yi Bichen had also noticed this, so he furrowed his brows deeply, looking back on his experience fighting Hulugu just now, Shen Qiao must be under a lot of pressure, more importantly, the chance of victory remained slim.
The person standing in the middle of the fight, Shen Qiao definitely felt a pressure overhead as immense as Taishan, in the practice of the sword he had attained the sword soul stage, by logic he could look down on everyone, but his inner qi remained his shortcoming, especially compared to Hulugu this type of anomaly, they could not be discussed within the same conversation.
The sword edge was fast as lightning, made its descent towards Hulugu, but in the overturn-mountain-topple-sea zhengqi, like a boat against the current, Shen Qiao in the midst of this, found himself growing heavier and heavier, until he couldn’t advance another chi.
At the same time, from Hulugu emanated a boundless, endless qi force, his robes bellowing, zhengqi folding itself into a whirlpool, he jumped and extended a palm towards Shen Qiao, as it approached, like a monster devouring everything, it swallowed up Shen Qiao’s sword qi sword light, and smothered it!
All the stars in the sky, the shifting clouds inconstant rain, here it would be decided!
Shen Qiao closed his eyes, channeling his inner qi to its limit, in his mind he swept away all extraneous matters, with only one thought remaining, and that was to beat Hulugu!
This match, was not only for himself, but also for his shizun Qi Fengge, he couldn’t have others say Qi Fengge was blind: not only did the disciples he trained not continue his will, but also fell to his previous opponent.
Shen Qiao may not care about his reputation, but he couldn’t disregard Qi Fengge’s enduring name!
Sword soul sensibility, look upon the point of departure, the desire to win could not be rushed, but in a match, there will be an outcome, there is no one who would seek defeat over victory.
If one sought defeat, it was not truly seeking defeat, but pride, feeling that one rarely would have a true rival.
Shen Qiao’s eyes snapped open, his sword so quick, becoming shadow.
But he was not looking at his sword, but the person in front of him.
Hu. Lu. Gu.
The other also met him with a raised palm, zhengqi swirling around him, like a raging storm on the ocean, the rage of the heavens and earth churning, intending to bury everything under the waters, meeting on this narrow path, the winner as sovereign!
Shen Qiao only felt the immensity of the force surging towards him, as if to swallow him whole, his blood boiling over, seeking an exit from his body, as the inner and external forces collided, his body felt it had compressed into a thin piece of paper, pain in every part of his bones and meridians.
He was a person who had a high degree of pain tolerance, back when he had fallen to cliff bottom with severe injuries, the pain of shredded meridians, he had managed to tolerate it, this palm strike from Hulugu, was also excruciating, but he made no sound, waited for his sword qi to hit its mark, then fell back and landed.
Tolerating the pain, finally under pressure, he spit out a large volume of blood, spattering over his robes and the ground.
Hulugu’s expression was unchanged, he retreated a few steps, did not spit blood.
Shen Qiao had used all of his potential and strength in this move, had managed to injure Hulugu, although it was not as severe as his own injuries, the other did not escape unharmed.
Zhao Chiying, Gu Hengbo and the others had been waiting for a pause in their match, now rushed forward to support him.
Yu Shengyan had wanted to carry out his shifu’s orders, but his wugong as it stands, no matter how you looked at it was no match for Hulugu, it would only be a death wish, seeing the two cross paths, of course he was worried, now seeing an opportunity, he inserted himself: “Tujue Hulugu’s reputation precedes you, today in challenging two grandmasters, I can see that your reputation is deserved.”
Hulugu had not appraised him before, in this moment only looked over him briefly, his filial disciple Duan Wenyang came forward to introduce the other, Hulugu as he listened, said: “I heard Yan Wushi is considered a master in the central plains, close in skill to Qi Fengge all those years ago.”
“It’s more than just close,” Sang Jingxing snickered, pouring oil onto fire, “I heard that in Liuligong’s rank-list, he was ranked second!”
Hulugu paused: “Who’s ranked first?”
Sang Jingxing smiled and looked at Yuan Zixiao: “You’d have to ask Liuligong’s Yuan-shaogongzhu.”
Yuan Zixiao was once again at the centre of everyone’s scrutiny, she appeared unfazed, no sign of turmoil, said to Hulugu: “The first was originally not you.”
Hulugu: “Originally?”
Yuan Zixiao: “Looking at things overall, you still lose to Qi Fengge by a margin.”
Hulugu narrowed his eyes, in these twenty plus years, Qi Fengge these three words had not faded from his heart, instead they had become a thing he could not dislodge, it was a pity the other had passed on, even if he wanted to challenge the other to a match, he could no longer find him.
Duan Wenyang laughed coldly: “Qi Fengge is dead, are the dead eligible for the rank-list? By that logic, wouldn’t Tao Hongjing, Cui Youwang also be included?”
Yuan Zixiao nodded, said: “So I said it was not originally you, but since Qi Fengge is dead, then it’s you.”
Said with this cold inflection, although there was no variation in her tone, she still had the uncanny ability to enrage others without losing breath.
Hulugu was not going to be petty with a young girl, Duan Wenyang looked like he was going to say something, but in the end he only left Yuan Zixiao with a look, and turned his attention back to Shen Qiao.
“You’re really not bad.” He said.
Shen Qiao: “Thank you for the praise, I was just lucky, you had just fought Yi-guanzhu, if we were keeping count, it is this poor one who took the advantage.”
On Hulugu’s face appeared a whisper of a smile, his brows and face had a knife-carved appearance, when not smiling was quite unapproachable, but this smile carried several parts gentleness.
In contrast, his words were cold: “Usually, I do not go to extremes, and would stop here, but you killed Kunye, if I don’t kill you, my disciple’s soul will be lonely as he goes to the afterlife, you should go down and keep his company!”
As he said this, he walked towards Shen Qiao, one step after the other, slower than a leisurely walk on a sunny day, but the intention felt by everyone was a terrifying whole body chill.
Although Zhao Chiying, Gu Hengbo were no match for Hulugu, to detain Hulugu long enough for Shen Qiao to get away shouldn’t be too difficult, thus turning back to Shen Qiao, they said under their breath: “Leave quickly!”
Drawing out their swords in the meantime.
As a member of the demonic sects, how many times had Yu Shengyan considered himself a selfless hero, but Yan Wushi’s words still rang in his ears, he gritted his teeth, and also went to stand in front of Shen Qiao.
Li Qingyu, Su Qiao, Fan Yuanbai, Zhou Yexue, all came over, and stood in front of him.
In this moment, one could see how much virtue Shen Qiao had accrued.
Yi Bichen was injured considerably, but seeing the situation he could no longer be a bystander, if the other were to kill Shen Qiao here, Chunyangguan would no longer need to be part of the jianghu, holding his sword walking forward, he called out: “Stop, shijiandahui is only for martial exchanges, not the place for seeking out revenge!”
Why would Hulugu regard him seriously, not even requiring him to move a finger, Duan Wenyang and Sang Jingxing had stepped forward to intervene, Chunyangguan disciples had also stepped up to help, Hehuan sect members were also not going to fall behind, everything fell into chaos.
Members of other sects, some couldn’t wait to join the fray, the others looked at each other, at a loss, and didn’t know what to do next.
Wang San-lang was inclined towards Gu Hengbo, was thankful for her help earlier, so now rolled up his sleeves and came over to help, his brother was forced to follow behind.
But Hulugu’s steps hadn’t ceased, he still walked towards Shen Qiao one step after another.
His expression was indifferent, an unmarked surface, these people in his eyes, were like withered weeds, not worth a mention.
Shen Qiao said quietly: “Thank you to everyone for your support, but this is between me and him, you don’t need to interfere.”
Saying this, with a push of his palm, the wind rose up and gently pushed everyone to the side.
Gu Hengbo, in a panic: “Shixiong!”
On the other end, Hulugu had slowly raised one palm.
Shen Qiao also clutched the sword hilt in his hand.
It was at this moment, a cold chuckle sounded beside everyone’s ear: “This venerable one’s person, you think you can kill at your whim?”
Yu Shengyan, shocked: “Shizun!”
With these words, how could anyone not guess the identity of this newcomer.
A shadow flickered in the air, like a floating celestial, abrupt, self-assured, but it didn’t do what the others predicted and meet Hulugu, instead it caught Shen Qiao by the waist and swept him away.
The speed it was done, even Hulugu hadn’t been able to stop him.
Everyone gaped.
The author would like to say:
What about the promised peak fight to the death?
Everyone’s gaping, because they didn’t expect Lao Yan to have none of the posturing for someone ranked second in the world, just got up and ran.