In the face of Shen Qiao’s full sky of sword light, Sang Jingxing didn’t wait for death, where others saw an impenetrable sword front, Sang Jingxing didn’t have that same degree of horror.
Shen Qiao’s opponent was a grandmaster after all.
Sang Jingxing’s steps were as swift as shooting stars, his sleeves billowing, his whole person moving in the wind, rising in the sky, mid-air, he struck out his palm towards Shen Qiao standing behind his sword front.
The sword light was affected by the palm strike, like starlight refracting on the lake surface suddenly disrupted, in a moment it had coalesced again, then wobbled and crumpled, Sang Jingxing’s palm strike had tore it open!
Sang Jingxing remained in mid-air, resting his feet on nothing, as others saw it, there ought to have been a series of stones beneath his feet that he could step on as he took to the sky.
He had a large stature, now with the wind greeting him mid-air, his robes bellowed, Diaolong Palm Style manifested at its peak, like a dragon dominating the skies, roaring its mastery over all things, astounding everyone present, its will to rise straight into the high heavens.
Although everyone present was embroiled in a fight, there were a few with average wugong, Xuandushan disciples unable to get a hand in, they could only stand by with their swords while watching the fights shouting encouragement, now seeing how strong Sang Jingxing was, their hearts were in their throats, staring blankly at the zhengqi coalesced “huge dragon”, under Sang Jingxing’s control, it roared and dove down, headed towards Shen Qiao.
Comparing the two, Shen Qiao appeared lesser, weaker.
“What devil trick is Sang Jingxing using, that he can step on air and continue to climb!” A disciple couldn’t stop himself from commenting.
Lou Liang had his head raised watching, his mouth hanging open, at the same time in his heart there was a feeling of self-pity and shame caused by the insurmountable difference he was seeing.
What year what month would I be able to achieve Sang Jingxing’s level of wugong? Actually I don’t need his level, even one or two part of his ten, I would be satisfied!
But if the other was so powerful, Shen-shishu…would he be able to deal with him?
At this moment, Bian Yanmei and Xiao Se the two of them were in the throes of their fight, Le’an had crossed paths with Bai Rong, Yunchang’s wugong was a notch below, he couldn’t get a hand in and didn’t want to cause trouble for his shixiong, could only watch from the side, ready to step in at anytime — in truth Bai Rong’s wugong was better than Le’an by not a little bit, even Le’an had noticed, the witch he was facing wasn’t making any effort, in the face of his sword’s advance, she was more than capable, it looked more as if she was toying with him, Le’an was upset, but couldn’t do anything about this, he could only determinedly continue to struggle with the other.
Hearing someone ask this, Yunchang explained to them: “Unless they were a god, otherwise how could they fly in the air? Look closely, he’s actually borrowing momentum, each of those steps, he steps off of the backs his own feet, using this momentum to propel himself upwards, it’s only that Sang Jingxing’s movements are too fast, so it looks like he’s flying amongst the clouds! My shifu said before, Hehuan Sect has a distinct step sequence, called ‘Tianyuan Sixteen Step’, it encompasses this maneuver, but obviously it also requires deep inner reserves to accompany it.”
After much scrutiny, everyone discovered this was indeed the case, but even if they knew how the technique worked, this level of qinggong could not be achieved easily, with their calibre, even if they exhausted their efforts in this life, they may not be able to accomplish it, on this point alone, they despaired.
That being said, Sang Jingxing was so strong, would Shen-shishu really be able to fight him?
In an instant, they had in their minds already turned over several scenarios, but for the two who were fighting, it was a mere blink of the eye, the “huge dragon” roared soundlessly, alongside the wind’s relentless howl, it was already in front of Shen Qiao, inches from his face, even his sleeves were caught up in the wild winds, as if intending to blow him away.
Sang Jingxing’s offensive was all encompassing!
The brilliant alluring sword light was enclosed by Diaolong Palm Style’s zhengli, turned pale, slowly, gradually it began to disappear, as if ultimately squashed by force, nearly swallowed whole, all sword light obliterated.
This…was a loss?
All of the people watching the fight held this question in their mind.
Yunchang, Lou Liang, other Xuandu disciples seeing this, felt their hearts fall empty, the feeling of “today perhaps everything is lost for Xuandushan”, aside from this, they also felt it was inevitable, after all Sang Jingxing’s wugong was so strong, no one present was likely to be his match.
And it was in this moment, the sword light that had already vanished, burned through its ashes once more, appeared again, and this time it kept expanding, ultimately pulled into a taunt ray of light.
No, not a ray of light, it was a beam of sword light!
Sword light everywhere, but Shen Qiao had vanished from everyone’s view, a white arc ran straight through, through the “huge dragon” ’s maul, grounding Sang Jingxing’s zhengli dragon-form into dust, it dispersed in all directions!
Sang Jingxing’s carefully constructed nieli barrier received a pounding, he also wobbled in mid-air.
In an instant, that white arc abruptly ceased, body non-existent, sword as reality, everyone watching could not discern how Shen Qiao was moving, were left with only one impression: fast.
Thunder that leaves no time to cover the ears!
For Sang Jingxing, his cultivation was who knows how many times higher than those in the crowd, also at close-range, naturally he could see how Shen Qiao was moving, but seeing it clearly didn’t mean he intended to meet it head-on, seeing that sharp swordpoint eviscerate his offensive, in a flash he went on the defensive, Sang Jingxing chose to evade that swordpoint for now, he flew backwards retreating.
His form was swift, the retreat opened up several zhang, beneath him was the roof of Sanqingdian, Sang Jingxing landed on the rooftiles, it was merely a touch, but the force was enough for him to launch himself forward, directly lunging towards Shen Qiao!
This time, he put ten parts full power into his Diaolong Palm Style, his previous probe of the other’s potential was clear, he knew what he was up against, and so didn’t hold back anything.
Grandmasters facing off, it was never an opportunistic trick that would decide the outcome, but true potential.
Sang Jingxing liked Shen Qiao’s appearance, had thought about him lewdly numerous times, imagined how moving he would look in his bed, the more he couldn’t attain it, the more he coveted, he even was a little jealous of Yan Wushi’s luck in love.
But it was also clear to him, at a time when the other was blind, wugong largely diminished, how he had still tried to take him down with him, it was evident that in Shen Qiao’s bones was a cruel determination to persevere on the fields of death, this kind of opponent should not be underestimated.
So this time he used almost all of his power, had no qualms about cherishing this piece of fair jade.
Both sides were determined to win, killing intent many times folded over.
The palm strike’s unrestrained howl, compared to previous was at least three parts stronger, like a storm wrecking the surface of the sea, the raging waves sought to engulf the very heavens, this was Diaolong Palm Style cultivated to its upper limit, nine dragons condensed out of Sang Jingxing’s boiling zhengli, from different directions, lunged towards Shen Qiao!
Before a wave had ceased, another wave rose!
Everyone held their breath at this scene, even the ones in the fight unconsciously slowed.
Two tigers fighting, one is certain to be injured, Shen Qiao and Sang Jingxing, these two grandmasters, who will win and who will lose?
Yunchang, Lou Liang, and the rest had long heard of the rank-list of top ten martial masters in the world, they knew Shen Qiao had rose in the ranks, and was actually ranked above Sang Jingxing, but before they could see it with their own eyes, they had a hard time believing it, because the fight at Banbu Peak those years ago, Shen Qiao’s failure was still fresh in their minds.
The scene where Shen Qiao was beaten by Kunye off the cliff left too strong an impression, although time had passed, and things had changed, until now, the many people who had not seen Shen Qiao’s step by step emergence from the bottom of that canyon, could only doubt Shen Qiao’s potential, doubt whether Shen Qiao could beat Sang Jingxing.
Zhengli like an unrestrained tempest descended upon Shen Qiao, in all directions, as if blocking off every possible path for escape, then surrounding him it coalesced, smothering him, this palm strike of Sang Jingxing’s conveyed the pinnacle of his decade’s worth of Diaolong Palm Style cultivation, any grandmaster, even if it was Yan Wushi himself, would not be able to just look on leisurely, without batting an eye.
Shen Qiao moved.
With the ground beneath him as reference point, he leapt!
Sword swung from bottom to top, as if splitting open mountains!
In a split second, mountains collapsed ground opened, nieli akin to lifted rivers and flipped seas surged and pushed forward, one layer stronger than the next, the two opposing zhengli clashed directly, the ruthless sword style, a huge boom reverberating, Sang Jingxing spat out fresh blood, completely unable to withstand it, then he crumpled, his body pushed down by a great force, he could only fly back in retreat, leaping down to the roof of Sanqingdian.
As soon as he touched ground, he struck his palm backwards, his body leaping up again, flying towards Shen Qiao, at the same time striking out three times.
Shen Qiao had raised his sword to counter, unexpectedly at this moment, from behind him came a thin sound through the air, its movement although quiet, had reached his ears.
The thin sound approached rapidly, aiming at his heart, giving him no time to evade, no matter how fast Shen Qiao moved, he was a person and not a god, at this moment his focus was on the fight with Sang Jingxing, no strand of attention was spared to other affairs, his sword movements were already in motion, there was no time now for him to evade, and more impossible to turn around mid-motion to block.
In front of him the three palm strikes!
One stronger than the previous, not even slightly diminished than the previous, Shen Qiao now understood, Sang Jingxing had spat out that mouthful of blood, his injuries were probably not that severe, to trick him into underestimating him, and in the process reveal an opening.
Behind him, the sound through the air was within a few inches, there was no way for him to evade, Shen Qiao ground his teeth, couldn’t help but leave his back open, he could only solely focus on what was happening in front of him.
Suddenly, a dark form leapt from the side, blocking his back.
Shen Qiao could only hear a grunt, then the sound of a body falling heavily onto the ground, then a chorus of “Yu-shishu” began.
His heart sank, but he had no way of turning around to look, he could only raise his sword to meet Sang Jingxing.
With shanhetongbei, wind and thunder crying in unison, sun and moon overlapping, sword light refracting into a thousand cups of starlight, but even more resplendent than the stars, each and every star, as if descending from the heavens, falling into the well of the eyes, further into the heart, this kind of impossible-to-describe-with-pen-and-ink beauty, but only the people present could feel its unflinching killing intent.
When Sang Jingxing found that his three palm strikes had been neutralized by Shen Qiao, he didn’t need to think he turned around and left, had no posturing of “dying to save face”, as long as he was alive, his mountain remained, there would be more wood to burn, Sang Jingxing had just snatched the zongzhu position from Yuan Xiuxiu’s hands, hadn’t had a chance to savour it yet, lots of things he wasn’t willing to give up, no way he could be like Shen Qiao’s cruel determination to persevere on the fields of death.
So in the matter of intention, he had already lost!
As he turned around to flee, the sword light pursued him, it had the agileness of “tiankuohongying”, relentless, swiftly arriving.
Many people practicing the sword all their lives, had never seen this kind of approaching-celestial sword style, seeing it made them gape, their shock couldn’t have been any bigger.
Sang Jingxing first felt a chill on his back, then excruciating pain, he couldn’t believe that “Tianyuan Sixteen Step” would lose to “tiankuohongying”, his certainty at the beginning had long evaporated, he was left with only terror, he sped up his steps, now he only desired to use his decades worth of qinggong to its extreme, his body was like a strand of smoke, immediately vanishing from everyone’s gaze, the ground where he had stood, bloodstains.
Bai Rong had been paying attention all this time, seeing this she blinked her beautiful eyes, called out: “Shizun, how are you doing?”
Then abandoning Le’an, chased after Sang Jingxing in the direction he had left.
Xiao Se cursed Bai Rong’s cunning, cursed himself for being a step behind, his attention diverted momentarily, he was struck by Bian Yanmei across the chest, he spat out blood, retreated many steps.
Shen Qiao didn’t pursue Sang Jingxing any further, he turned back.
What he saw was a bunch of silver zhui protruding from Yu Ai’s chest, the zhui were no thicker than that of a tree branch, but were mostly embedded, blood poured out from the other’s mouth, his face deathly pale, his condition was bad.
Shen Qiao shifted the person over from Yunchang’s arms, holding his wrist he gave him a burst of zhengqi, Shen Qiao’s heart sank.
The other was still injured from his ambush, climbing up the mountain to return he had exhausted his energy, then today he had blocked this attack for him.
His meridians were faint, like a flickering candle in the wind, an arrow at the end of its flight, even the golden celestial wouldn’t be able to turn things around.
But receiving this zhengli was still helpful, Yu Ai’s body trembled, and he slowly opened his eyelids.
As soon as he could tell the person holding him was Shen Qiao, he grabbed Shen Qiao’s hand, weakly: “Er-shixiong…A-Qiao…”
“It’s me.” No matter how angry Shen Qiao was, this anger had mostly diminished when he had blocked that sneak attack on his behalf, now he just felt grief, with his words he tried to offer solace: “Don’t rush to speak, rest, I will treat your injuries.”
Yu Ai shook his head, with a lot of effort: “The one who acted against you…was Tan, Tan Yuanchun!”
Shen Qiao, shock and rage, raised his eyes and looked in all four directions, Tan Yuanchun who was supposed to be fighting the Tujue had long disappeared, as for Duan Wenyang, he was fighting two elders, momentarily could not extract himself to cause Shen Qiao trouble, Bian Yanmei said to him: “Don’t worry, Liu-zhanglao has gone after him, I’ll head over too!”
Saying this he turned to Yunchang and Le’an’s shifu Kong Zeng: “I’ll leave things here with you Kong-zhanglao.”
Kong Zeng had arrived late, didn’t know who he was, seeing he was familiar with Shen Qiao, didn’t dare disrespect him, he rushed to say: “Daoyou rest assured, I am here!”
Tan Yuanchun conspiring with Tujue, plotting against Yu Ai, although Shen Qiao was surprised, he wasn’t overly shocked, what goes around comes around, Yu Ai had plotted against him, he should have known one day it would be him, in the world, sooner or later, all would be returned.
What he hadn’t expected, was that when his life was in danger, Yu Ai would step forward, protecting him with his life.
“A-Qiao, do you still hate me?” He asked in this way.
“I don’t know.” Shen Qiao didn’t want to lie to him, “When I took up the mantle of zhangjiao from shizun all those years ago, I certainly did not anticipate all of this to happen later, if I knew, I certainly would not have accepted the zhangjiao position.”
“I also…did not anticipate it,” Yu Ai laughed bitterly, coughed, new blood poured out from his mouth: “I used to think…everything I did, was right, it was shizun who was too conservative, it was you who was too useless, but, but later I realized, the one who was wrong was me, from beginning to end, it was, keke, it was all me!”
Shen Qiao, lowering his voice: “Xuandushan had been secluded for a long time, eyes shut and ears closed, away from the world, things had gotten to a point where something had to give, before then, I just wanted to guard shizun’s legacy, wanted to protect you all, I didn’t stop to consider that this method didn’t suit Xuandushan, you were wrong to conspire with Tujue, wrong to poison me, but your commitment to Xuandushan, even I cannot compare.”
Yu Ai: “In the end still, still I was wrong, I shouldn’t have not trusted you, shouldn’t have been greedy…”
He was seized by a coughing fit, blood pouring out more freely, Shen Qiao froze, tried to give him more nieli, but found that his nieli entering Yu Ai’s body was like dirt sinking into the depths of the ocean, vanishing without a trace.
“So, now I, return a life, a life to you, don’t hate me, ok, A-Qiao?” Yu Ai as if not sensing anything, still held onto Shen Qiao’s hand.
Shen Qiao’s tears fell drop by drop onto his hand, as if burning him Yu Ai shook, then he smiled: “You, you’re crying for me, that means you don’t hate me anymore, right?”
“I don’t hate you anymore, after you’ve recovered, we’ll go pay our respects to shizun.” Shen Qiao said.
This warm sensation made Yu Ai reminisce, his thoughts drifted away on hearing this sentence: “How I wish, keke, to go back to our youth… you teaching, teaching me and Yuan Ying the sword on shizun’s behalf, although your face was frowning, but no matter what, it was very cute, I ran after you, wanting you to call, call me shixiong, you were so annoyed by me, you could only hide from me everywhere, I would look everywhere, looking, looking…”
His voice grew faint, fainter, until it could no longer be heard.
The hand that held Shen Qiao’s loosened, like its owner’s life running out, silently slid down.