Plundering the Dao of the Immortal Journey

"It’s just that it takes one to know another."

"Cough, cough!" Shen Wan Lin stood up, "Uncle, you’ve raised me up since I was a young lady. Naturally I would be afraid to end up like my parents. I thus learned some self-defense secretly. I did not expect to finally be able to put it to good use."

"To h.e.l.l with you!" At this point, someone on the edge of the battleground raised his hands and threw his hidden weapon.

Pei Zi Yun dodged with such speed that made anyone who tried to watch dizzy. The hidden dagger was soaring rapidly, slicing through the air. In the next second, Pei Zi Yun flickered and stood next to the man who threw the dagger. With a crack, he broke the man left hand before cutting his neck open. At the speed Pei Zi Yun moved, only a blur could be seen, as his body found a way to evade all sight while he was moving.

Amidst blurred shadows, and flashes of his sword, Pei Zi Yun broke apart from his victims, leaving six bodies in his wake. One of them had been struck right in the chest and was vomiting out internal organs, screaming for help on the floor.

Pei Zi Yun smiled, his eyes glancing down, noticing a hole in his robes. He had narrowly avoided being slashed. Just half a centimeter down would have taken out his entire lungs.

Pei Zi Yun stepped forward, all the dagger wielding warriors retreated several steps back. Fear was clearly evident across their faces.

"Meng Luo Gong, today shall be the day you die." Shen Wan Lin raised his hands, in a bid to protect her brother. However, Pei Zi Yun was already finished with all the warriors. He then walked slowly towards Meng Luo Gong, his sword was glistening with blood. Just by looking at it caused Meng Luo Gong’s heart to race.

Shen Zhen noticed that there was a temporary break and hurriedly swallowed a handful of pills, feeling better almost instantly. He then thought to himself as he watched Pei Zi Yun’s mastery in his sword techniques, ‘Is this the Primordial Infused Sword?"

That was the Shen family’s manual’s highest level of dagger technique. Shen Zhen had always felt that his skills were unmatched and unparalleled. However, based on what he heard, Pei Zi Yun was using Dao arts as well. He then gripped his dagger tightly.

"Who are you? I don’t think I’ve offended you, or did anything to provoke your anger upon me. Why should you make an enemy out of me?" Meng Luo Gong asked, his face bore a look of sheer terror. He knew that Pei Zi Yun’s martial arts were much stronger than his.

"Pu!" Pei Zi Yun did not respond with words, but with a stab towards him. Meng Luo Gong noticed that his strokes were extremely familiar, and defended himself with the exact same strokes. A sword and a dagger clashed with one another, as the both of them attacked.

A shout rang out as Meng Luo Gong retreated, a clump of his hair dropped. He had managed to escape death. Just a little closer and he would have lost his head. In the next moment he felt a tremendous force slam into his chest, as he spat out a mouthful of blood. This feeling that he felt was extremely familiar. It was deep, intense fear. He had not felt such fear in a long time. Twenty years ago, he had suffered a severe injury and was on the verge of death. He had remained in hiding until he managed to fully recover. Soon after, he tried extremely hard before delivering his sister to the doorsteps of the Shen family. From then on, he never experienced such fear ever again.

He finally got a taste of that same old fear, causing his old and new wounds to feel pain once again. This pain reminded him of that unbearable fear of death. He then shouted out hoa.r.s.ely, "What Dao art is this?"

"That’s not any Dao art. It’s the ninth and tenth step of cultivation, fusing gentleness with strength to produce immense energy. It seems like Xie Cheng Dong did not teach you this." Pei Zi Yun was about to advance once more when several dagger wielding warriors stepped forward.

"Die!" Having used the pills, Shen Zhen joined the fray as well. His expression bore a severe look of killing intent that was extremely terrifying. He swung his dagger, and heard a man scream out in pain before falling to the ground.

"All of you, block him for me!" Meng Luo Gong shouted out. He did not know where these sect disciples appeared from to defend him. He knew deep down that there was completely no chance of victory, and decided to leave. He would think of a way to get back at them, or report this matter to the Young Master and ask for a.s.sistance.

Thinking this way, Meng Luo Gong sprinted out of the temple.

Pei Zi Yun then met the warriors head on. Shen Zhen pressed hard onto his wound and charged forward as well. Shen Wan Lin gave a loud shout, causing Shen Zhen to turn his head back. Shen Wan Lin’s eyes burned hot with hatred, as she gripped her dagger tightly and charged forward as well.

The few of them ran into their enemies quickly, as their blades swung in all directions. These dagger wielding warriors all seemed to have the same Shen household dagger techniques, just not at a very proficient stage.

To an outsider, these techniques wielded by the warriors seemed very dangerous and proficient. However, to someone who grew up learning these techniques to perfection, it was extremely flawed. Their blades gleamed and reflected light as blood sprayed all over, with many men losing limbs and their lives.

Most of them were bleeding from their heads and limbs. Some men on the floor were making a gurgling sound as they died. There was a small pond in front of the temple earlier. At this point, the pond had started to turn red. Before long, the entire pond was covered in thick blood. Under the light emitted from the stars and moon, it gave the pond a strange and mystical, red shimer.

"Pu!" The last warrior fell to the ground, his entire throat had been sliced opened as blood gushed out.

"Gulp!" They could then hear the sound of someone retching uncontrollably. The two men turned around to see Shen Wan Lin stab her dagger into the ground before vomiting. There were two men in front of her who had died under her hands.

"The original owner had no idea that Shen Wan Lin knew martial arts. No wonder she managed to survive till the wedding in spite of the a.s.sa.s.sins who came after her." Pei Zi Yun then understood.

They then saw Meng Luo Gong who was attempting to flee, and they were all shocked. This man was extremely cunning and vile. In order to obtain the family manual he set himself against his own nephew and even tried to kill him. In order to acquire a chance to ascend the Dao, he planned all these from decades ago. He would even ruin his own family’s reputation and set up a ploy to harm his niece before gathering more than twenty people to fight for his cause and die for him. Seeing that danger was near, he even knew when to escape. A person as sly as this would thrive in a chaotic world, where peace was broken. Were this era chaotic, this man would certainly excel. No wonder he was selected by Xie Cheng Dong.

It’s just that, someone so scheming, how could he die at the hands of Shen Zhen?

Although Pei Zi Yun was appalled, he knew that achieving the objective was more important. He then looked at Shen Wan Lin, "Look after your brother. I will kill this Meng Luo Gong."

As he spoke, he rushed out through the door. He noticed that there were several horses which didn’t escape. He leapt onto a horse and yelled, "Ride!" The horse then looked in the direction of Meng Luo Gong’s shadow before chasing.

Shen Wan Lin snapped out of her daze and helped her brother up, "Brother, are you hurt?"

"I’m fine. My Vitality Immolation technique hadn’t been fully activated, and thus the damage was not great. My wound isn’t very severe as well. It’s only that I’ve been poisoned. Although I’ve already taken several pills to counter the effects of the poison, it’s not an antidote. However, it will suppress the effects for some time."

"When we get back, I shall concoct the antidote myself, then I shall be fine." Shen Zhen’s face was pale as he forced a laugh. However, he knew that although he did not fully activate the technique to sacrifice his own life, the poison and his wound had affected his vitality to a certain degree.

However, he would not tell his sister this and worry her too much. He looked extremely tired as he looked at Shen Wan Lin, "Younger Sister, I’ve implicated you and dragged you into this mess."

"No, don’t speak of such things. If I had truly married this scoundrel, I would have been much worse off."

Shen Zhen then nodded his head before changing the subject, "When you were unconscious, was it that man who saved you?"

"Yes, his surname is Pei, or something."

"Surnamed Pei?" Shen Zhen thought for some time and did not speak immediately. After some time he then continued, "Although he wielded a sword, the techniques he used to kill the warriors were indeed the techniques from our house."

"Did you notice that whenever he exchanged blows with someone who knew our dagger techniques he learned a new variation of the technique? Every time he killed someone, a new stroke and combination was added to his a.r.s.enal of moves."

"The Shen family’s Thirty Seven Techniques meant that there were a total of thirty seven variations to the technique. Every single variation could deal a lethal blow and kill someone."

"I saw him kill sixteen people in rapid succession. I noticed that he already mastered twenty one different variations in the technique. That is extremely amazing."

"The most scary thing is that every time he learned a new variation, it felt extremely natural to him, almost as if he had been solely practicing that variation for ten years. He adds his own style and modifies the techniques, perfecting it. When I think about, it makes my hair stand. Just watching him makes me feel like I’ve improved."

Shen Zhen continued speaking, his entire face bore a look of intense fear, "This man makes me afraid. You said his name was Pei. Under the houses of legendary martial artists, which one of these houses were Pei?"

Shen Wan Lin hesitated before speaking, "He didn’t come from a martial arts family. Along the journey here, he said that he was a student, and a High Scholar."

"A student? A High Scholar?" Shen Zhen was taken aback. At this moment, a thought came into his mind as he opened his mouth wide in disbelief, "Don’t tell me it’s that scholar from Ying Prefecture that shocked the entire nation, the one who composed , his name was Top Scorer Pei Zi Yun?"

The name Pei Zi Yun, even Shen Zhen had heard of it. However, these were people belonging to two different realms, and thus Shen Zhen hadn’t thought it could be him. He still found it hard to believe that this terrifyingly proficient martial artist was Ying Prefecture’s Top Scorer.

"No, I can’t catch up to him. I have to sacrifice this horse." Pei Zi Yun then whipped his horse. However, he was not proficient in riding. He looked far away, Meng Luo Gong’s horse was dashing across the plains rapidly. He then raised a finger and pointed it as the head of his horse. Instantly, the eyes of his horse turned bloodshot as it sprinted with increasing fervor.

"Meng Luo Gong, you can’t escape." Pei Zi Yun exclaimed as he closed the distance between them.

"What have you done to this horse? What sorcery did you do to it? This is clearly a normal horse, how can it run at such an unbelievable speed?" Meng Luo Gong turned back and asked. His face was distorted with fear and rage. He knew that it was Dao arts but still decided to call it sorcery due in anger.

Before long, he realized that Pei Zi Yun was going to catch up with him soon, and thus leapt off the horse and ran into the forest. Pei Zi Yun followed suit and jumped off the horse in hot pursuit.

This forest wasn’t particularly big. Meng Luo Gong dashed through the foliage and saw a huge river up ahead. There was a big boat docked along the river bank. He ran towards it as fast as he could before jumping overboard, he then stood on the deck.

"Someone"s saving him?" Pei Zi Yun jumped onto the boat as well.

At this moment, someone drew his curved dagger and rushed towards Pei Zi Yun. It was strange that they didn’t hear the roar of the thunder. A bolt of lightning struck, and the bolt was reflected within the eyes of Pei Zi Yun.

Move like the clouds, or emulate the flow of the wind, it doesn"t matter.

"Chen Ping?" Pei Zi Yun stabbed in his direction. Both their blades moved in almost the same way, and yet Pei Zi Yun was unperturbed, "Pu" The cold steel of Pei Zi Yun’s blade connected with Chen Ping as he roared out in pain. When their shadows disentangled from each other, they both took several steps back. Chen Ping had a gash on the right side of his body, where his robes had been split apart revealing a long but shallow cut and his green undergarments.

"Shen household’s Thirty Seven Techniques?" Chen Ping was shocked as he shouted out.

"Aren"t you outsiders using the Shen household’s Thirty Seven Techniques as well?" Pei Zi Yun laughed, "Meng Luo Gong, Chen Ping, all of you secretly obtained their household’s techniques. The Shen family was due to marry your family, and that ruined their luck."

"However, according to my observations, you’ve only been practicing this technique for three years but managed to reach the eighth stage."

"Meng Luo Gong, you’ve been living like a dog your entire life. You’ve acquired this Shen family’s dagger techniques for more than twenty years right, and yet you’ve only managed to reach the seventh level."

Meng Luo Gong was offended by his words, as his pupils dilated. He gripped his dagger tightly, "You are the true thief. How could you have learnt the Shen family’s Thirty Seven Techniques? Was it Shen Zhen or Shen Wan Lin that b.i.t.c.h who handed it over to you?"

"You’ve only just realized it now? It doesn’t matter if I’m wielding a sword. Hm, it seems like you can plot and scheme very well, but your martial arts techniques are average at best."

Pei Zi Yun then gave a cold laugh, "Both of you, come at me together!"

"Kill him!" Someone then shouted from the deck. The two men behind Chen Ping drew their swords simultaneously as they charged towards Pei Zi Yun.

The gangs nowadays had evolved to group fights. Except for those who were exceptional in their fighting skills, they was hardly anyone who would fight alone.

"Whatever shapes the cloud might take, however hard the wind might blow, it doesn’t matter!" Pei Zi Yun shouted. The gleam on his sword took on the appearance of a multi colored rainbow as he rushed towards these two men, "Pu pu pu" could be heard as the both of them screamed out in apparent agony. Both of them received similar wounds, a deep cut to their abdomens. Both their guts were dangling from the wound.

Chen Ping and Meng Luo Gong huddled together, fear was etched on both their faces. Feeling their hairs standing on the edge, Chen Ping asked, "Shen family’s Thirty Seven Techniques, you’ve managed to attain the ninth level? Or is it tenth?"

"You’ve managed to ascend to such a proficient level?"