Wenchang didn"t say a word but flung himself backward and loosed three silver-plumed darts. A storm of arrows coming at them caught Frigid Scorpion Gao Fei"s attention and distracted her; that was why he had the chance to throw concealed weapons at her to save himself. This time there was a large disparity between he and his opponent in this vicious fight which nearly destroyed his confidence and almost cost him is life.
That last stab was ruthless as it went straight into his lung. He couldn"t stabilize himself and his vision was blurry. He felt like he had been struck by lightning and his body was not responding to his commands. He had no strength left and he felt numb all over as he fell flat on his back.
He was very lucky that the stone floor was slippery and he slipped down beside the body of the dead guard as the storm of arrows screamed just half a foot overhead and he was not hit.
He wasn"t thinking about the arrows, he just instinctively turned over and tried to get up. A real man of fort.i.tude, how could he not get up again after falling down? He wasn"t just going to lay there and wait for death.
If he had just stayed down the guard"s body would have s.h.i.+elded him and the archers wouldn"t be able to hit him, but if he stood up he was done for.
"Ai!" It was the first time he had cried out in paid as two arrows plunged into his back. His body was jerked around in a half turn and he fell to the floor.
The moment he hit the floor an arrow sc.r.a.ped over his tailbone and ripped his flesh and a grayish-purple spray of blood mixed with cadaverine poison shot out.
The shower of arrows stopped as he wailed thunderously. Exhausted, he crawled next to the corpse and fell into a deep dark coma.
Frigid Scorpion Gao Fei stabbed Cai Wenchang and three silver-plumed darts came at her just as the shower of arrows arrived. She cried out and shot to the floor and knocked over a long, wooden table just as arrows sunk into the top of it. At the same time, she felt the three powerful silver-plumed darts break through her qigong defense and hit her in the left side, sinking in half an inch or so into her ribs. Another half an inch and they would have ruptured her internal organs.
There were four gla.s.s lamps hanging in the hall, and there had been two candlesticks on the long table, which toppled over along with the table. She broke off two table legs and cut them into four sections with her sword and threw the pieces at the lamps. There was an explosion as the lamps snuffed out and the big hall was plunged into darkness, only illuminated now dimly by the torches outside. She sheathed her sword and grabbed two big round-backed chairs and used them to s.h.i.+eld herself just as the lamps were knocked out as she charged through the rear hall doors and away from danger, displaying great athletic prowess, using a big char as a weapon as she slew any archer or guard in her way. Flesh and blood flew all over amid a cacophony of savage wails.
The slain victims dropped their torches as they died and in no time the building was in flames, thick smoke rising as tongues of fire licked up.
Frigid Scorpion slaughtered her way outside and everyone forgot about Wenchang, who lay dying inside the hall. He felt the voices become far away and an intense pain slowly brought him back to his senses. Gritting his teeth in pain, he managed to sheath his dagger and with great effort took out a nine-cycle elixir pill and swallowed it. He tried to circulate his qi. Soon, his dizziness subsided, the pill restoring much of his energy, and he was able to struggle to his feet and walk to the rear hall. He had already cased the building and knew his way around and had planned an escape route earlier. He immediately grabbed the clothes of a slain guard and used them to bandage his wounds, then draped another guard"s clothes and hat over himself and quietly slunk away amid the chaos.
He ran back to his hideout in the deserted park. He saw the entrance in the distance and someone darted out and shouted, "Is that Master Cai?"
"You… You"re…" He didn"t have the strength to finish his sentence.
"I"m Li the Third from Southend."
"Oh, Brother Li, what news do you have?"
"Black Flag Sovereign arrived from Xi"an prefecture at the top of the second watch. I came here specially to report it, but I was too late, you two had already left… Aiya! Master Cai, are you hurt?"
Wenchang"s heart was pounding like crazy. If Black Flag Sovereign was here, then didn"t that mean bad news for Black Iron PaG.o.da? If he arrived at the top of the second watch then he would certainly have gotten word and hurried to Mount Mang, along the same route as Black Iron PaG.o.da. It was hopeless.
"Brother, what time is it now?"
"The watch is about to change now, it will be the fourth watch."
"Brother, help me bandage my wounds first, quick!"
As the guy ripped cloth and wrapped him up, Wenchang said, "Notify everyone to scatter and lie low, it"s dangerous right now."
Despite the fact that he was at the end of his own rope, he set off at once for Mount Mang.
On Mount Mang, flesh and blood were flying everywhere in an intense battle. The second watch had ended and the third was beginning.
Seven Spells had been duped by a strange figure. He searched all over the cemetery but only smelled Fang Xiaojuan"s lingering fragrance. He saw no one. In a foul mood, he led his men up further and searched around the Emperor Ling Mausoleum twice, then began spreading out in a dragnet.
As the second watch was about to end there was no one around. Then suddenly, there was a whistle from below.
"White Crane Hermit, there"s fighting below," Blissful Monk called out.
Seven Spells was shocked and took off. "s.h.i.+t! That"s the whistle of Black Flag Sovereign"s men. Sons of b.i.t.c.hes! They"re brazenly intercepting our target down there. Preposterous!"
"Let"s go!" Black Zombie said.
"Wait!" Seven Spells thundered. "You"re Black Flag Sovereign"s friend. Speak up, who"s side are you on?"
"I"m not on anyone"s side, I only want to catch that Cai Wenchang who made trouble near my home."
"In other words, you"re still after Cai Wenchang."
"That"s right."
"Then let"s agree that the person goes to you and Blissful Monk, but the loot is all mine. With Black Flag Sovereign"s men suddenly showing up like this, if you think of siding with those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, don"t blame this humble priest for turning against you and showing no mercy. I"ll attack your stronghold, so don"t say you weren"t forewarned."
"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? All my life, I, Nangong Liang, have looked after no one but myself. Who cares about friends, I"m not going to mess up my own affairs for the sake of a friend."
"It"s settled then. When the time comes you best stay out of it. Let"s go! Down the mountain."
From within a nearby wood, Xiaojuan said anxiously, "Dad, let"s hurry."
Fang Song thought for a moment. "Black Flag Sovereign"s men are no big deal. Those two ought to be able to handle them. At least they will be able to get away. We can"t let that pack of villains meet up though. We"ll lure them away, kill them if we can, but don"t go looking for a fight. Let"s go!"
They were laying low to the left of those people, and they shot out and Fang Song changed his voice and said, "Who"s there? Beat it! Don"t get in the way of my, Cai Wenchang"s, important business."
Seven Spells roared in rage and drew his sword and went toward the sound. "So you"re here early. I"ll have your head!"
The two sides were more than a hundred feet away from each other, but it was too dark to see each other, so they had to follow the sound. Fang Song feigned fear and shouted, "s.h.i.+t! It"s that old b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Seven Spells. Big bro, let"s go!"
Father and daughter didn"t head down, but intentionally revealed themselves and scattered in different directions. Twenty or so masterhands split up and went after them in a disorderly mess.
Seven Spells had seen Wenchang"s lightness skill firsthand, so he didn"t think anything was amiss when he saw the two figures had incredible lightness skill, but gave mad chase after them.
"Argh…" A spine-tingling wail shook the sky as a master fell down. Father and daughter drifted about here and there within a mile and a half radius within the forested hill, keeping their distance and killing at once anyone they happened to run into. Half a double hour pa.s.sed and six men had been killed in the dense woods.
Seven Spells was getting more and more worried as he gave chase, and then he suddenly realized what was going on. "It"s not him," he shouted. "Someone is pretending to be Cai Wenchang to make fools of us. Don"t pay any attention to him. Let"s get down the mountain and get on with the important business."
They withdrew down the mountain. They were scattered all over, so how could father and daughter intercept and stop them all?
"Seven Spells, come on, let"s have a fight to the death," Fang Song yelled as he went after Seven Spells and Blissful Monk; those two guys had stayed together the whole time.
Seven Spells was just about to draw Fang Song out for a fight so he was not disappointed. Both sides evenly matched, if one side didn"t go all out then he would not be able to use his full strength, especially in these dense woods in the dead of night, where even if it was one against two second-rate masters, they still might be able to give a first-rate master a hard time, and the latter might even get careless and fail. Seven Spells wasn"t stupid, he didn"t want to play hide-and-seek with this fake Cai Wenchang, and was not one to be tricked. He would have to beat down this opponent first, then head down the mountain and catch up with Black Flag Sovereign"s men.
He used his stealth communication skills to whisper to Blissful Monk, "Master Magnanimous, listen for my signal, and we"ll each kill one at the same time. These two guys are tougher than we figured!"
Blissful Monk said, "Okay! I"ll take the left, you take the right."
The four of them headed down singlefile, quick as a shooting star, pursuing one after another in a chain as they quickly closed in.
As they gave chase, only Blissful Monk had his steel alloy monk"s staff out, the other three didn"t have their weapons drawn. In other words, father and daughter were not in urgent need of a weapon.
The line of pursuit wasn"t a road, it cut a path straight down. Seven Spells had just brushed past a hill of brambles when he suddenly shouted, "Excellent move!"
He darted to the left as he shouted, then spun around and chopped five times with his hand. His indomitable Daoist Empyreal Wind qi was like a mountain torrent and thunderstorm all in one. Dust and the tips of gra.s.s flew into the air, carried on a deafening blast of wind with enough force to smash a mountain.
Blissful Monk howled madly and spun to his right with his staff with "Divine Dragon Wags Its Tail", fiercely striking at a dark figure like a thunderbolt.
Fang Song was in front and so took the brunt of it. If the priest and monk had just turned around and attacked instead of splitting off and coming in from either side, then if he wasn"t killed he would have been seriously injured. When it came to skill, he was a little bit better than the priest and the monk, but it was two against one, and the attack was sudden, so in an all-out fight he would get the worst of it, the two sides switching advantage.
Luckily, the priest and the monk didn"t attack him head-on, but came around from the sides instead, which made them a bit slower. Fang Song let out a long cry and didn"t stop short, but leapt up instead and launched his Misery Valley"s unique "Flittering Light Obscures Shadow" lightness skill, leaping ten feet in the air and shooting over. But he was worried about his daughter behind him, so he had to strike. He struck backwards with both hands four times on the left and right.
The explosion of air was deafening, bursting forth in a m.u.f.fled whisper as if the air current was vibrating wildly.
Blissful Monk had the advantage of a weapon in hand, which absorbed some of the shock as he was moved back five steps, leaving three-inch deep footprints in the ground with each step.
Seven Spells met Fang Song"s palm with his own, but his own Empyrean Wind was not as high a level yet and underwent an intense return shock and he flew out ten feet and staggered to a stop. "Mountain Quaking Palm! That"s Misery Valley"s unique skill. Attack!"
Amid the shouting, a column of flame like a countless green and red shooting stars shot out thirty feet toward Fang Song, the monk"s will-o"-the wisp poison.
Fang Song received a quaking injury as well, and he leapt up twenty feet, but his energy was used up and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Once he landed he charged ten feet before he managed to get away from the powerful force, but the flaming current was coming out him perilously.
At about the same time, Seven Spells gasped and spat blood. He turned and shot away and before long vanished.
Blissful Monk at the same time let out a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He hadn"t noticed that Seven Spells had already slipped away, nor did he know that Fang Song was injured, he just took up his staff and charged ahead.
Xiaojuan arrived. She yelled and the Yin-Yang Bone Sword came into play, loudly whizzing through the air like a dragon"s moan.
Blissful Monk was incredible. He turned back with an angry roar and swept his staff out, happening to hit the sword as it came at him and they clanged off each other lightly. The sword was slower than the staff and the staff knocked the sword back, the tail of the staff poking in after it ferociously.
The girl knew the monk was incredible. She let the momentum carry her back ten feet and she dodged the will-o"-the-wisp poison. The lecherous monk saw the Yin-Yang Bone Sword and was terrified and slunk off without a word.
Fang Song saw the light of the flames behind him and knew that b.a.s.t.a.r.d had loosed a poison behind him. He forced his true qi up and pitched himself forward onto the ground and rolled twenty feet to the side down the hill, his energy used up, using the slope to get away. By the time he managed to stand up and get his Chief Star Brush out, Seven Spells was already nowhere to be seen. The thistles and thorns on the ground were smoking and sparking, and a strange-smelling green phosph.o.r.escent light still floated just above the surface of the ground.
"Dad!" The girl worriedly shot over and cried out in spite of herself. This was the first time in her life she had seen her father fall down to dodge something, the first time she had seen her father not steady on his feet.
Fang Song put away his Chief Star Brush and gave a wry smile. "Those two guys are incredible, no wonder they are as famed among the jianghu as your grandpa. The fact that I was able to take their combined attack is worth celebrating. I"m fine, I"m fine, just a bit of a jolt to my chest and shoulder, that"s all. If they had attacked together then I would have really been in trouble!"
He swallowed a pill. "Give me a minute, there"s still time to catch up to them."
He sat down and began regulating his breathing and circulating his qi. The girl was stunned out of her wits, constantly looking off down the pitch-black foot of the mountain, her heart already down there worried about what was going on.
It was quiet at the foot of the mountain.
Seven Spells and Blissful Monk were preoccupied at the moment, heading down the mountain, but their companion had already reached the bottom. Black Zombie had made it there the fastest.