Chapter 187 – Fis.h.i.+ng in troubled waters
Fei Meng Chen grunted and started blaming the Solitary Falcon for his personal misfortunes; this guy has intentionally thrown the Xuan Core in my direction so he can reduce the pressure on himself. If things had remained as they were earlier, the five of us would have easily injured him… we might have even killed him!
He decisively threw the Xuan Core away the moment it touched his palm since this thought crossed his mind, and shouted: “I don’t want it!” The Xuan Core suddenly changed its direction and made a beeline for the Third Elder of the Silver Blizzard City.
Fei Meng Chen and the Solitary Falcon were both quite smart, and had intentionally made sure that they didn’t toss the Xuan Core towards s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao. s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao would have bluntly grabbed the Xuan Core, and would have then fled away with it! His objective was obviously not the same as the Solitary Falcon’s since he was here to procure the Xuan Core!
And no one present on this scene was capable of stopping him!
The Solitary Falcon might have the ability to catch up to him, but he was rather unlikely to chase after the man since he only wished to fight.
The Xuan Core continued to fly back and forth the battlefield since no one had the courage to seize it…..
This Xuan Core was no longer a treasure at this point, but was more like a messenger of death! Whoever tried to grab the Xuan Core would inevitably become the target of everyone else!
s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao had tried to rush in to grab the Xuan Core several times during this time, but ended up getting frustrated since he was obstructed each time by a laughing and giggling Solitary Falcon, and would eventually have to submit into fighting his counterpart master…..
The Solitary Falcon was really enjoying himself, and was laughing non-stop; however s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao was looking extremely depressed. Although his speed was quite extraordinary, but it was nothing compared to the Solitary Falcon’s, and hence there was no way in which he could block the Solitary Falcon’s strikes while hoping to acquire the Xuan Core simultaneously. All he could do was anxiously look on and continue to fight against his compet.i.tion with full force, and turn their faces pale with fright. Even Fei Meng Chen was having a hard time…..
The Xuan Core on the other hand, continued to get transferred back and forth the battlefield for a long time; neither falling to the ground, nor staying in anyone’s hands for more than half-a-second……
In case a modern volleyball player had managed to witness this superb game, the player would have inevitably prostrated in front of these five Spirit Xuan experts in admiration!
The Solitary Falcon’s deliberation had allowed Jun Mo Xie to cause more mischief as well; the young master Jun had been stealthily circling around the battlefield, and had been causing more causality; in fact, even s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao had been cut twice by now.
Jun Mo Xie had managed to find himself a relatively neutral place between the Spirit Xuan experts and the Sky Xuan experts at the time when the Solitary Falcon had tossed the Xuan Core away. However, his situation could best be described as that of a man who’s performing a dance on a wire.
Although his body was in a stealth state, but his body was still real, and in case even one of these experts brushed his body, then they would realize his presence, and his life would end-up in a whole lot of danger; after all, the young master Jun was considerably weaker than every man present on the scene.
But he was still willing to undertake this risky task since it was important for him to control the criticality of this situation. The first most important thing was that, he simply couldn’t allow this Xuan Core to fall into s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao’s hands; else his entire plan would crumble. The next most important thing was to ensure Fei Meng Chen’s survival; in case he died, then the consequences of the aftermath would be too severe. And the third; he needed to ensure that the Solitary Falcon was able to realize his true potential.
The Tian Xiang Empire’s foreign affairs had been keeping a peaceful approach in these past few years, but the Emperor was still slyly trying to weaken the enemy’s forces. Fei Meng Chen and s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao were powerful and influential men in their country, so much so that they could be regarded as the cornerstones of the Yu Tang Empire. Therefore, the Jun Family had been asked to ensure that such military powers of the enemy states be weakened, but without starting a war.
Their deaths would obviously be the best way of achieving this objective; however Jun Mo Xie was shamelessly enjoying playing this role of a ‘semi-traitor’ at the moment.
Whenever Jun Mo Xie would get a chance, he would deliberately try to push the Xuan Core between the three Elders of the Silver Blizzard City and the nine remaining disciples of Li Wu Bei; the result was obviously very, very, very effective. The Three Elders were simply unable to cope up with this pressure, in fact, the Sixth and the Ninth Elder had already started to bleed from the corner of their mouths.
As for the nine remaining disciples of Li Wu Bei, they were fighting against an equally strong opposition at the moment. Jun Mo Xie had tactically redirected the Xuan Core towards them about four or five times by now, giving them hope; and whoever received this Xuan Core would inevitably try to flee in full speed in the hope of getting away by fluke, but would inevitably find their way obstructed by either s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao or the Solitary Falcon, and would have to toss the Xuan Core back towards someone else at the cost sustaining a few additional injuries.
Even though s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao and the Solitary Falcon had noticed something strange about this Xuan Core’s movement on occasion, but since they had never heard of a possibility of Jun Mo Xie’s stealth abilities in their entire lifetime, they never paid much attention to it.
The Solitary Falcon was obviously really enjoying this confusion, but Jun Mo Xie was enjoying it even more. However, two black dressed men were secretly hiding on top of a tree branch a few meters away; their hawk-like eyes were staring at this confusing battle scene, but it was arousing more and more doubts in their hearts.
“Third Brother, you see that Xuan Core….. I’ve been trying to read the purity of its aura for a long time now, and there’s no doubt that it’s a top-notch Xuan Core, but why do I feel something strange about it still?” one of the black-dressed man blinked his eyes twice: “It looks so mouth-watering…. Like I almost want to bite it? I’ve seen a lot of top-notch Xuan Cores in my lifetime, but I’ve never felt this way before…….” he gulped a mouthful of saliva down his throat.
“Something is wrong; but it’s not with the purity of this Xuan Core’s aura. However, its force seems more……” the man being referred to as ‘Third Brother’ paused for a second, shook his head and then continued: “This force seems very similar to one that comes from the Tian Fa cave, but it’s still more tempting than the Tian Fa cave!”
“We must find a way to seize this Core, else the boss will…….” the third Brother stopped mid-sentence as his entire body trembled with fear.
“Uh……. Third Brother, please don’t mention the boss when it’s just the two of us….. it gives me the chills.” The other black-dressed man also s.h.i.+vered in fear, and sneakily looked backwards; seemingly afraid that his ‘boss’ might have suddenly appeared behind him.
“The boss certainly has no time to care for you right now; ever since the second brother has left, the boss has been angrily looking for him. If the boss was to catch a hold of second Brother then… he he he……” the third Brother’s face exposed a sly smile, almost as if he would enjoy the sight of this so-called ‘second brother’ being sorted out by their boss.
“The Second Brother left in search of better future, but is he really better off than us in his freedom? I really don’t understand this.” The black-dressed man shook his head: “If I ever see him again, I will definitely attack him; I’ll tear him apart!”
“You? Hmmmm….. If you were to face him alone, then I think the Second Brother would simply kill you on the spot!” the Third Brother looked dismissingly at his companion: “You’re nothing in front of him; do you really think that you can face the Second Brother’s claws? Did you even consider them?”
“His claws are indeed powerful, buy I’m sure I can handle myself! Although, they are really powerful, that I must admit!” The man may not be convinced of his inferiority, but he still respected the threat.
“Take note that s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao is the most powerful one here, and he would try hard to garb the Xuan Core! Prepare to move into action, we’re going in for the Xuan Core!” The third brother issued the command and the two men moved into action like a gust of wind. Their foot movement was so magnificently stealth, that it seemed as if they were walking on the raindrops!
However, even though there were several Spirit Xuan experts on the scene, no one noticed them; not even s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao and the Solitary Falcon!
It was unclear if these men were even stronger than these two Peak Spirit Xuan experts…. But it was rather obvious that the two supreme beings had taken no notice of their presence thus far!
s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao roared, and then issued a Qi field from his body; then, he rushed forward to grab the falling Xuan Core once again. The Xuan Core was flying closely by his body at the moment, and the Solitary Falcon was busy fighting with Fei Meng Chen; this was the best chance that he had seen since the starting of this entire confusion!
The remaining five Spirit Xuan experts were all aware of his intention, but failed to obstruct him anyway. The three Elders of the Silver Blizzard City weren’t strong enough to withstand his strength and ducked away pitying their fortunes, only to rejoice in the fact that they wouldn’t sustain any further injuries, and looked on helplessly as s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao advanced towards the Xuan Core.
Although Fei Meng Chen was reluctant to let the Xuan Core fall into s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao’s hands, but his strength was barely at par with the Third Elder of the Silver Blizzard city, and wasn’t even remotely enough to match up to s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao. He had only intended to balance the power of this battle, and had now somehow managed to get himself tangled with the Solitary Falcon in a battle; ah, why am I so unfortunate…? there’s nothing I can do but watch…..
Only one man was capable of stopping s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao, and that one man was the Solitary Falcon. The Solitary Falcon was the quickest and most agile man amongst the ‘Eight Great Master’, and was second to none; even s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao wasn’t capable of matching his speed. He was the only one who could get to this Xuan Core in time enough to thwart s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao’s plans, but would then have to face the angry man’s desperation.
Unfortunately, the Solitary Falcon had no intention of doing so; after all, his intention wasn’t to win over the Xuan Core since his addiction for battles was far more powerful than his desire for worldly objects. As far as he was concerned, if could cross swords with Fei Meng Chen for as long as he wished to, then he was more than willing to let s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao take the Xuan Core!
The Solitary Falcon had already made up his mind, and s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao had understood this fact, which is why he had moved into action in full force since he knew that even though several powerful experts were present on the scene, no one would be able to stop him unless the Solitary Falcon decided to cause trouble!
He extended his right hand to grab the Xuan Core as he flew closer to the flying Xuan Core!
s.h.i.+ Chang Xiao was flying at full speed, just waiting to welcome the Xuan Core in his hands!
The hearts of this supreme master was obviously very excited: Peak level Nine Xuan Core ah! Finally it’s coming into my hands!