Li Ye knew clearly that when he dealt with Wei Jiangnan, he exposed a lot of strength. It was impossible that Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue weren"t alert.
When he saw w.a.n.g Jian and Li Maozhen, Li Ye knew that they were sent by Liu Xingshen to test him. Their purpose was to draw forth Song Jiao and the others to verify whether he had gathered Li Xian"s former followers or not, whether he knew the truth of the Battle of Bagong Mountain or not.
Under their control over Chang"an, if the four high-ranking eunuchs were convinced that Li Ye was a threat, they wouldn"t hesitate to get rid of Li Ye, even if Li Ye was the Grand Prince. For those sinister eunuchs who didn"t see the world"s heroes as human beings, rules were not obstacles.
Now Li Cui was seriously ill, so this incompetent emperor wouldn"t live long according to Li Ye"s memories of his last life, which meant that Li Yan was about to ascend the throne. As long as Li Yan had ascended the throne, Li Ye no longer had to fear Liu Xingshen and the others. Every new emperor would bring his own courtiers, therefore, even if Li Ye didn"t deal with Liu Xingshen and the others, Tian Lingzi would also revolt against them in order to get promoted.
Li Ye most worried that Liu Xingshen would abandon Li Yan to support other princes so that the overall situation of his going out to suppress the va.s.sal states would be influenced. Therefore, at this moment, Li Ye couldn"t expose the power of the Black Office.
Under the willows at the riverside, Li Ye beckoned to Li Maozhen. "You two come together."
"You court death!" Li Maozhen"s jade-like face darkened and his arched eyebrows c.o.c.ked immediately. His left hand clapped on his waist and a short knife went out of its sheath with a short sound of metal friction. Turning into green light, it flew towards Li Ye hurriedly.
His face full of warning, He shouted at w.a.n.g Jian in a low voice, "You don"t move. He is mine!"
"Do you think about it as a compet.i.tion? This is an a.s.sa.s.sination!"
w.a.n.g Jian didn"t want to cooperate with Li Maozhen at all. Two huge round bronze hammers appeared in his hands as he shook his fat waist. He ran out in one step and his big foot stepped on the ground, like a giant elephant falling down, causing the ground to tremble.
The ground trembled constantly as he ran out step by step. A shadow of a giant elephant emerged from his body in ten meters high, towering. No one would doubt that he could hit Li Ye to death directly. It was obvious that he had the physical cultivation which was only common in the army.
He shouted at Li Maozhen in a low voice, "Fight a quick battle! End the fight within three strikes!"
w.a.n.g Jian hit Li Ye"s head with the big hammers, while Li Ye dodged sideways. The bluestone floor immediately cracked, gravel shattering. A deep hole appeared on the ground.
The short knife flew over and hit the position where Li Ye was dodging. But his gaze was calm and he wielded his Luke Sword to hit out the short knife as if he had known it beforehand.
w.a.n.g Jian immediately followed to kill him. His double hammers fell, which was another powerful strike.
Li Ye performed his skills, obliquely thrust the hammers, and jumped away. The big hammers. .h.i.t the ground again, causing countless gravel and soil to fly like rain.
Li Ye didn"t stop at all and he ran along the river bank quickly to dodge. w.a.n.g Jian"s strike was powerful, so Li Ye didn"t want to catch his double hammers directly, while Li Maozhen controlled his short knife to hit Li Ye constantly like a flying sword. It followed Li Ye like a shadow!
However, Li Ye always looked relaxed. While dodging and running, he didn"t forget to tease them, "You"re both in Level 7 of Qi-refining, and I"m in Level 5 of Qi-refining, but you lay siege to me. You bully me obviously!"
Level 7 of Qi-refining was higher than Li Guanshu"s cultivation. According to common sense, they should be in high official positions, but there were no absolutes. Li Maozhen, in his twenties, and w.a.n.g Jian, in his thirties, were both young. It was not an easy age for someone to be in a high official position with no background. Obviously, their cultivation was higher than their official ranks.
Li Ye ran along the river bank, while w.a.n.g Jian followed behind. Li Ye was vigorous and moved as a running rabbit, while w.a.n.g Jian was heavy and powerful. Each of his steps had the potential to trigger an earthquake and with every blow of the hammers, a big hole appeared in the ground. But his speed and agility were obviously weaker than Li Ye"s.
On the other side of the river, Li Maozhen, who ran along Li Ye, gnashed his teeth secretly as he saw this scene. Although w.a.n.g Jian"s movement was great in strength and impetus, he obviously couldn"t catch up with Li Ye. And every time when his short knife flew to the front of Li Ye, it would be hit away by Li Ye"s sword. Knife Qi and Sword Qi flew away, cutting off a lot of willow branches.
Li Maozhen had hatred in his heart. "This fellow only has the cultivation of Level 5 Qi-refining, so why is he so good at running? His sword can block my knife. Is it the Luke Sword?"
Li Ye certainly could run fast because he had already put on the Cloud-walking Boots. He could run in the way he wanted. If he hadn"t been contained by Li Maozhen"s flying knife, he would have dumped w.a.n.g Jian far away behind.
Li Ye was composed. Looking at Li Maozhen who was rushing in front of the willows on the other side of the river, he said with ridicule, "You seem to like to talk big. Didn"t you want to fight alone with me just now? But you can"t seem to get near me!"
"Don"t be arrogant!" Li Maozhen became angry from embarra.s.sment, and his jade-like face flushed. He made a seal in front of him quickly with his hands and pointed to the flying knife suddenly. He shouted in a low voice, "Bright Moon Ring!"
The flying knife, like a shadow, trembled and hummed suddenly. Its speed increased immediately, and it instantly reached the top of Li Ye. All of a sudden, green light flashed. One dividing into two and two dividing into four, it turned into sixteen green and bright flying knives in a second. They were suspended in the air as a ring, all with their tips down.
"Wind attacks the Peach Blossom Fan, and a knife forms the Bright Moon Ring!" Li Ye chuckled with an expression of "certainty". "The Bright Moon Ring has come out, so how about the Peach Blossom Fan?"
Before he had finished speaking, Li Maozhen had jumped to the top of the willow tree and a small and delicate Peach Blossom Fan appeared in his hand suddenly. The Peach Blossom Fan was incomparable in beauty with exquisite accessories and an enchanting pattern, giving people a sense of charm.
Holding the Peach Blossom Fan, Li Maozhen snorted and waved the fan towards Li Ye heavily.
The fan was apparently small, but it raised a gust of wild wind. The wild wind was like a tornado, covering the sky and the sun, and came to the front of Li Ye in a second. While at this moment, the Bright Moon Ring made up of sixteen green flying knives above his head chopped Li Ye fiercely, blocking the 16 positions that Li Ye was able to move around!
The knife fell, and the wind came!
In a blink of an eye, Li Ye was like being trapped in a cage with no escape!
The most terrible thing was that w.a.n.g Jian seized the opportunity to kill him outrageously as he stopped.
The knife fell, and the wind came. When Li Ye stopped, a twinkle flashed in w.a.n.g Jian"s eyes. His feet stamped heavily on the ground, making a deep hole in the bluestone floor, and his hill-like body leaped high, full of killing intents on his face. He held up a pair of round bronze hammers. The cyan light of the round hammers shone brightly, and the shadow of the giant elephant behind him swelled to an unprecedented level.
At this time, the double hammers in w.a.n.g Jian"s hands became the giant elephant"s feet and chopped towards Li Ye from the sky like the Mount Tai on his head, very terrifying!
The green knives formation around him, the tornado in his front, and the giant elephant above his head, Li Ye seemed to get into a desperate situation!
"You run! You"re arrogant! Why don"t you run now?" When Li Ye got into the deadly situation, Li Maozhen felt extremely happy because he thought the overall situation had been settled. It was difficult to break the combination of his Bright Moon Ring and Peach Blossom Fan which had no weakness. In addition, w.a.n.g Jian"s strike was deadly, so Li Ye had no chance to escape.
As the famous masters of the Regal Guards, Li Maozhen and w.a.n.g Jian had never failed since their partnership. The former trapped the enemies, while the latter killed them with a powerful strike. Even in the face of opponents who had higher cultivation than them, such a combined attack would make the opponents have no way to dodge but catch their attack directly. However, if the opponents catch their attack directly, they would be either dead or injured!
"I have said that it took three strikes, so it will be three strikes!" Li Maozhen said disdainfully.
Before he could finish his words, he heard a voice full of ridicule. "Really?"
The voice naturally came from Li Ye.
Li Maozhen"s pupils shrank and he unexpectedly discovered that Li Ye looked as usual and felt very calm.
In the face of such a deadly attack, Li Ye was calm as usual, with no fear at all.
It would be undeniably lethal for anyone else.
But for Li Ye, the effect could be minimal.
In his last life, Li Ye was too familiar with Li Maozhen and w.a.n.g Jian and understood their famous strikes very well—after all, one of them had threatened him by invading Chang"an, while the other one had taken away a little half of his country. If Li Ye hadn"t known them well, he would have been too foolish.
If Li Ye had wanted to flee, he would have run away earlier with the Cloud-walking Boots in his feet. He stayed here because he had a solution to Li Maozhen and w.a.n.g Jian"s deadly attack and wanted to catch them!
"Braveness!"
Li Ye made an Outside Lion Seal with his hands before his chest, and the pattern of Yin and Yang Eight Trigrams formed immediately. At this time, he didn"t push it forward but squatted down quickly. He patted the huge inked "Braveness" word on the ground heavily!
The inked "Braveness" word exploded on the ground abruptly so that the bluestone floor cracked into gravel, flying everywhere. The turbulent waves of Qi formed a hollow cylindrical wave and rushed towards the sixteen green flying knives!
At that moment, the flying knives, which were hit by the waves of Qi, couldn"t "stand up" anymore, like a cultivator who was cut off his feet, trembling violently. They dropped one after another and eventually became one flying knife, falling on the ground with a clanking sound!
"Recovery!"
Li Ye quickly stood up, made a Mudra Lion, and pushed it towards the approaching tornado. The huge inked "Recovery" word hit the tornado. Like a big shield, it pushed the tornado backward violently to rush towards Li Maozhen reversely!
Li Maozhen"s expression changed, his beautiful eyes full of horror. He opened his mouth, but speechless!
"Will!"
Li Ye rose up from the ground and pushed the Mudra Acalanatha towards w.a.n.g Jian who jumped in the air.
w.a.n.g Jian, who was going to crush Li Ye with his double hammers, was shocked by Li Ye"s breaking the knives formation and the gale instantly. When Li Ye fought against him, his heart suddenly thumped and he felt a hint of extreme danger with no time to think more. In front of the huge "Will" word which was rushing towards him, he opened his eyes wide with bristling hair, as if he had seen thousands of troops alone, so he almost wanted to retreat!
In an instant, w.a.n.g Jian shouted in a low voice and made a quick decision to retreat!
Li Ye broke the Bright Moon Ring and Peach Blossom Fan so easily, and Li Ye"s Nine-word Method was so powerful that w.a.n.g Jian was unable to resist.
But it was too late for him to retreat.
For an ordinary cultivator in Level 5 of Qi-refining, if he used the Nine-word Method, he would only deal with a master in Level 6 of Qi-refining. However, Li Ye had a profound understanding of the Nine-word Method, so he had already absorbed and mastered it. In his hand, the power of the Nine-word Method had certainly increased to a higher level.
Moreover, Li Ye had the power of green lotuses in his body which Zhongnan Mountain was trying hard to send to Huang Chao to help him with causing chaos in the world and which was enough for a cultivator who had the power of green lotuses to challenge beyond his cultivation.
Needless to mention that Li Ye also had his own Dragon Qi! And in recent days, he had absorbed enough Luck to almost break through the cultivation of Level 6 Qi-refining. His strength was much more powerful than that of when he fought against Chen Jianghe!
The "Will" word exploded around w.a.n.g Jian. Immediately, w.a.n.g Jian"s limbs were stiff and the Spiritual Qi in his body moved hardly as if it was sealed so that he was unable to mobilize it and he also couldn"t feel his Ocean of Qi. His expression changed greatly and his heart beat violently. He almost couldn"t help but cry out in horror at the knowledge that he was in an unprecedented predicament.