Chapter 26 – The heavy sword of the condor, Part 4
As the five people, Xiao Longnü and others, battled on, the circumstances were contrasting again. Every move Xiao Longnü made was an attack, whereas Fawang and others were still engaging in obstructing her every move. Counterattacks were few, but they were gradually closing in on her. Xiao Longnü’s situation became even more disadvantageous. Several times when she tried to evacuate the circle in order to slip away temporarily, her opponents’ strict and concentrated defense was preventing it. Every move made brought her back well within the circle. She knew that with Jinlun Fawang as the driving force, it was useless to even try throwing her swords up in the air like before. Besides the two swords that she held, there weren’t any other weapons available to her.
By herself in the main hall she injured Lu Qingdu, but by this point she had fought for close to two hours. Her physical strength was hanging on a thread, and the powerful enemies getting closer to her. Qiu Chuji and the others were lying in wait for her to one side. These five old Taoists were still very rare gems to find in the martial art world. Every corner was populated with enemies galore and she was only one person; she will definitely lose her life here at Chongyang Palace. Suddenly she remembered: “With me being brought to this predicament, what’s the pity if I simply die here? But…but…at the brink of death, I dearly hope I can meet Guo’er at the same time. Where is he at this moment? He’s bound to be getting intimate with Miss Guo, perhaps even already married to her. As a newly wed, why would he even think of a hopeless girl like me besieged from all sides? No it can’t be, it can’t be! Guo’er wouldn’t be like that, even if he married Miss Guo, in no way would he forget about me. All I yearn for is to see him once again …”
When she left Xiangyang and headed for the north, she’d made up her mind that she’ll never meet Yang Guo ever again. But at this stage where she faced the final moments of life and death, she found it more and more difficult to stick to her vow. What was previously “Dividing Heart with Two Uses” is suddenly now “Heart Embraces Her Special One”. Even though both her sword strike’s activity was the same as before, her “Pure Heart of the Jade Maiden Manual” strength wasn’t there. Fawang noticed a change in her sword style; he initially believed she intentionally showed weakness to tempt them. But after several moves passed, it didn’t seem so. So he immediately stepped further forward, his left hand’s silver wheel guarded himself, whereas his right hand’s golden wheel aimed for one of her swords to smash into.
Only hearing the sound of ‘dong’, Xiao Longnü’s left hand’s sword flew out of her hand and landed with a ‘pak’, it broke into two pieces. Fawang was just probing and it actually worked. This was far better than what he expected so without wasting any chances his right hand’s golden wheel rammed out. This stunned Xiao Longnü and she quickly made an effort to suppress her perturbed mind. She brushed out three slashes. But since she was forced into using just a single sword, the martial arts difference between her and Fawang stretched further. Xiaoxiang Zi and his partners seeing the small advantages arising progressed forward with their own weapons.
Xiao Longnü revealing a grimacing smile and did not wish to continue the contest any longer. She caught a glimpse in the pine lined path a blooming rosebush nearby within thirty feet of her. The flowers were delicate and fragrant and seemed like they were about to fall. Suddenly she was reminded of the place where she was cut off by the rosebushes with Yang Guo while learning “Pure Heart of the Jade Maiden Manual”. She thought: “Since I’ll never see Guo’er again, then I’ll think of him before I die.” Her facial expression was gentle and soft as it is was absorbed into a moment of contentment.
Fawang and his teammates had surrounded her in all four directions; if they wanted to they could’ve finished her in one stroke. But suddenly they noticed a wave of abnormality highlighted on her face, appearing as though she had forgotten about defending herself from the enemy. All were astonished, and wondered whether she was up to those dirty old sorcery tricks again. Four different weapons wavered in mid-air but didn’t come down. But within that pause, Nimoxing’s steel snake was the first to move forward.
Then all of a sudden beside him was the sound of wind soughing; it appeared that someone had stretched out a sword to strike him. Nimoxing frantically got back his steel snake to obstruct the sword but hit nothing but empty air. Then he saw a person in motion, it was none other than Zhen Zhibing who scrambled in front of Xiao Longnü. He was delivering his own sword to her. Xiao Longnü at this point seemed possessed as though nothing is within her sight, nor can she hear with her ear, and had already abandoned the matter of engaging in a hand-to-hand combat. Then she felt her left hand had been given a sword, and smoothly clung onto it.
The onlookers couldn’t help but cry out in alarm after suddenly catching sight of Zhen Zhibing entering the danger zone of the five top-notch fighters. For him, it was no different than if he were digging his own grave.
Fawang was acquainted with him, and did not wish to harm his life. So thereupon his left arm met his shoulder by force and pushed him away. His right hand’s wheel swayed towards Xiao Longnü. Zhen Zhibing was curious as to why she had no intentions to fight anymore. Desperately trying to think, his eyes understood that she’d be dead if this wheel grazed her. Without caring for his own safety he flung himself forward, and screamed: “Xiao Longnü, watch out!” Then used the back of his own body and obstinately blocked against Fawang’s golden wheel.
Whenever Fawang’s golden wheel swings out, its remarkable power alone could split rocks and slice mountains, what chance does Zhen Zhibing have of withstanding that? So he immediately dove out of the way. After Xiao Longnü caught the sword given her by Zhen Zhibing, she was as immovable as before and she continued to firmly hold the sword erect whilst in a trance. Zhen Zhibing flew out, and arrived on the sword’s end, spearing through his chest. When Xiao Longnü came to her senses, a dawning realization swept across her mind and she was certain that he saved her life. Staring down at his back wounded by the wheel and his chest pierced by his own sword, and she knew both were mortal wounds. In a split second her all consuming hatred converted to compassion, and softly spoke: “Why did you do this?”
Zhen Zhibing’s life was near its last gasp; as soon as he heard the four words of ‘Why did you do this?’ couldn’t hold back his wild joy. And said: “Long Guniang, I’m deeply…deeply sorry for what I’ve done to you; I could never amend with my selfless actions. Will…will you forgive me?”
Xiao Longnü stared blankly again, and recollected the time when she heard his conversation with Zhao Zhijing at the Guo’s residence in Xiangyang. A thought just skimmed across her mind: “Guo’er had always been deeply affectionate with me, and even once swore that he would never be unfaithful to me. Then without notice he’s made up his mind to marry Guo Guniang and abandoned me like nothing happened, and didn’t give a seconds care about the after-effects. He must’ve learned that I was once raped by this filthy scoundrel.” Her heart was innocent, even when she followed the tracks of the two Taoists Zhen Zhibing and Zhao Zhijing; this notion never came up in her mind. Once she was abruptly reminded by Zhen Zhibing, her mind’s compassion immediately spiraled back into hatred. Her fury has in fact tenfold, clenching her teeth; her right hand’s sword immediately drew on his chest and pushed forward. However in all her life she had never taken somebody’s life. Although her bosom was filled with grief and indignation, the sword that was to be thrust through his chest never happened to everyone’s surprise.
Qiu Chuji observing to one side saw his beloved pupil die a violent death. He was distressed as though a dagger struck through his heart; the incident happened faster than anyone could imagine, and he failed to reach him in time to rescue him. Xiao Longnü’s first sword strike can be said to have been caused by Fawang. But the second sword strike was intentional. He didn’t have the slightest knowledge of the tortuous details. During these six months he’s been without rest, for the most part thinking of how to negate Xiao Longnü’s maneuvers. In the recent month apart from this he had nothing else to think about. Xiao Longnü had been established as his own Quanzhen sect’s archenemy, but he definitely could not believe Zhen Zhibing was willing to sacrifice his life to save her. His eyes seeing her sword strike out again he immediately leapt in front. With his left hand’s five fingers whisking her wrist and his right palm aimed squarely for her face. Qiu Chuji’s martial arts occupied first place amongst the Quanzhen Seven Masters. The circumstances forced him to make that move, and his palm’s might was very forceful.
That jerk did manage to pull Xiao Longnü’s wrist, and the sword was instantly out of her grasp. Without waiting for the sword to drop on the ground, she reached out her hand and regained possession of it. Then she followed up with a lunge forward across to Qiu Chuji’s chest. During this moment, Zhen Zhibing shrieked in pain as he sank down on the ground with blood gushing out of his wounds. Xiao Longnü’s left sword pointed towards Qiu Chuji’s lower abdomen. Now that both her swords have combined harmoniously, its power has rapidly amplified. Qiu Chuji’s martial arts maybe profound, but within three strokes, he was in a helter-skelter state. Wang Chuyi noticing the situation wasn’t right, dashed forward to lend a hand, pushing Fawang and others to one side.
Jinlun Fawang and his motley crew felt surprised when they saw Xiao Longnü fight against the Quanzhen Five Masters, but knew that this change of events was beneficial for them. He thought it would be a good idea to watch them commit fratricide. All of them gave each other a wink, and backed off several paces. They were waiting for a real victor to emerge between Xiao Longnü and the Quanzhen Five masters, and then they’d step in to tidy up the final phase of the chess game.
As the top fighters come to blows, every move was mortal; nobody dared to risk any room for error. That’s why even when Qiu Chuji and his peers were aware that the situation was odd they knew it would be hard to solve easily. But since the battle had commenced, where could they find the spare time to consider all of this? The Quanzhen Five masters were unarmed, when confronting Xiao Longnü’s marvelous and improper methods of swordplay, the single month spent on initiating a skill called “Seven Star Rally” did not even have any chance of being put to good use. In a moment, Hao Datong and Liu Chuxuan both were harmed by her swords, but both persisted and guarded every martial brother’s safety. Then ‘zung’ sound, Sun Bu’Er was struck by a sword.
Other Quanzhen disciples seeing how the masters were failing in a dangerous situation couldn’t help but cry out in fear. Li Zhichang called out: “Quickly deliver them a weapon!” At this point, the “Five Master’s Palm” wind whizzed through the air, leaving the disciples unable to get near them. They could only throw the swords one by one over to them. Xiao Longnü raced ahead and brandished her sword to push away the incoming weapons. Every sword arriving near them was knocked away. The advantage Xiao Longnü had of having a sword longer than their human arms meant the Five Masters were given no chance to grab a weapon. Suddenly the noise of ‘ding-dang’ was heard, Xiao Longnü’s left hand collected another sword thrown in the battle, and abruptly lobbed it backwards. Wang Chuyi couldn’t prepare himself in time; the corner of his left eye was slashed by an outsider’s sword. Out of the Five Quanzhen Descendants, four were injured; a conclusion as to who triumphed could be reached.
Jinlun Fawang laughed ecstatically, and called out: “My Taoist friends please step aside, let me take care of this Demon Girl!” Finishing those words he intervened. Xiaoxiang Zi, Nimoxing and Yin Kexi jointly attacked her as they wielded their weapons. It had escalated into a phase where nine experts are besieging a single Xiao Longnü.
As soon as Fawang got involved, Quanzhen Five Masters were instantly released from Xiao Longnü’s twin swords coercion. Five of them called out loudly, and stood shoulder to shoulder. Either it’s the right palm or the left palm, five streams of huge energies amalgamated into one that generated the “Seven Star Rally” attack. It maybe only “Five Star Rally” right now, but its’ power is out of the ordinary. She tilted her body to evade the attack; the noise of ‘peng’ was heard. The dust on the ground flew upwards, the attack left Nimoxing somersaulting in the air as he fell.
After both his legs were cut off, he had to rely on his crutches for support; his lower-body wasn’t stable enough to sustain the blow. At least when he was in imminent danger he managed to slip away from the direct force of the blow. He may have toppled over, but instantly got back up unscathed. With a few bawls of ‘wa-wa’, he raised his steel snake aimed down at Liu Chuxuan’s head. In front of the Cave of the Jade Void the sounds of calls reverberated in all directions adding to the confusion.
Xiao Longnü seeing Nimoxing turn on the Quanzhen Five Masters stroked her white sleeves, and wanted to pull out of the circle. Jinlun Fawang hurried over to hinder the attacks, and said: “Brother Nimo, it’s more important to deal with the Demon Girl.” Nimoxing who’s preoccupied with the fight did not pay attention to the calls of Fawang. Prodding outward with his steel snake, the assaults were laid upon the various Quanzhen Taoists. Xiao Longnü’s swords quickly thrust out at Fawang several times. Fawang felt the unbelievable speed from the oncoming force; giving him a hard time just to parry them, and had to withdraw a few steps.
Suddenly, Xiao Longnü gasped loudly, both cheeks lost color. With two sounds of ‘qiang-long’, both swords from her hands fell on the ground. Staring in blank amazement at the pine lined path’s rosebush, she called: “Guo’er is that really you?”
At this juncture, Fawang’s golden wheel had sliced her head-on; Quanzhen Five Master’s “Seven Star Rally” pummeled her in the back. The attack was supposed to keep Nimoxing at bay, but the Indian short man had already suffered the bitter taste of the pile driver. So he had no second thoughts of matching it and evaded to the left. The attack was alternatively expended upon Xiao Longnü’s garment.
She looked bewitched, and the reaction to evade wasn’t there. Her vest had endured a palm, her chest struck by the wheel. Even with such a fragile body weathering these two tremendous converging forces, her eyes were nevertheless still fixed upon the external influence of the rosebush. At that moment, her heart was agitated and she turned her thoughts to her beloved, it seemed as though those two forces had not harmed her a bit.
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