NOVPUBChapter 745 -49 Nearly Successful (2/2) (3000)
Wu Qiong and the sinister old man had exchanged hands, yet both still spared a thread of attention for the inn. When the old man realized that the humble inn harbored hidden dragons and crouching tigers and that it included three individuals with high cleverness, a heavy regret welled up in his heart.
Leaving aside the two women, the honest-looking man who tumbled next to Wei Jinping seemed to have had great luck in escaping with his life, but the old man, despite his age, was extremely sharp.
His real name was Xu Shihua, originally a lowly corpse examiner from a county town, impoverished and struggling. However, while cleaning up the body of a man who had died in the town, he discovered a scroll of the “Qi Nourishing Scripture” inside the stomach of the deceased.
Dizzy with greed, he pocketed the secret manual, but after his family broke and died, he hardened his heart to kill many people, fled, and lived under a false name thousands of miles away, slowly climbing the paths of martial arts. Over time, he encountered many fortune turns and became what ordinary people couldn’t reach—a high master of the Jianghu.
During his forty years in Jianghu, amidst numerous crises, habits developed from his corpse examiner days saved his life countless times. At a glance, he noticed the unnatural trembling of Wei Jinping’s right arm after the honest-looking man stepped back.
Growing suspicious, he forcefully countered a thunderous sleeve blow from Wu Qiong, used the force to leap back, and saw Wei Jinping’s exposed right arm with twisted and vicious channels. With one thought, he knew it was the result of a sophisticated Acupoint Sealing Technique from the medical field, shaking him to his core.
Having been a corpse examiner and somewhat familiar with medical techniques, he knew all too well the myriad ways those proficient in medicine could kill. Regret filled his heart, but faced with such a dire situation, he still hesitated about whether to retreat.
His eyes covertly scanning from side to side, he prioritized defense and evasion in his martial arts, unwilling to meet even half a move directly in each of the ten exchanges, ready to turn and leave should the situation become irreversible.
Suddenly, he heard Wei Jinping roar like a tiger. This impetuous warrior, not lacking in decisiveness, burningly stoked his vital energy, momentarily stepping into the Fourth Rank realm. Though merely a fleeting mirage, at that moment, he could indeed behold the vast landscape.
Xu Shihua felt a surge of elation, yet he had not expected that ascending to the Fourth Rank would lead the warrior to die even faster; he was cleanly stabbed through the head, dying irretrievably. Then, the two women drew their swords and walked out, fear in his heart, he no longer hesitated and turned to leave.
However, he discovered that some of the Xiahou Family’s hidden guards had promptly withdrawn. Cursing inwardly, he also understood that although he was nominally a high-status guest elder of the Xiahou Family with a generous monthly stipend and never lacked for tea in spring or wine in winter, he ultimately did not bear the Xiahou surname.
The Xiahou Family’s hidden guards, hard to cultivate and fiercely loyal, were considered more precious than the likes of him, a mere guest elder from a lowly Jianghu background. Only one of them became involved to identify Jiang Lan correctly, got close, and was restrained by Wu Qiong’s vigorous Qi, unable to escape.
By now, Wu Qiong’s Qi mechanics became increasingly vigorous, his combat will surging, exerting more and more pressure on Xu Shihua, who cursed under his breath while continuing to withstand Wu Qiong’s powerful Qi strike. Without caring for his appearance, he tumbled and rolled to increase the distance between them.
Wu Qiong, a former scholar from One-Leaf Pavilion, never imagined that a fellow Fifth Rank warrior would disregard the dignity expected of a Middle Third Rank master and would resort to “Lazy Donkey Roll”, a move not even street thugs were keen on using. Although he soon reacted, his pursuit was a step slower.
The tremendous Qi Mechanism rolled like a spring thunder but only hit Xu Shihua’s right calf, rendering it a fleshly blur yet also propelling him several meters forward, further widening the gap.
Xu Shihua, seemingly unaffected by the injury to his escaping leg, sped up instead. Not using any Qinggong to leap into the air, he sprinted on the streets, with those chasing him quickly deducing that the old schemer planned to dive into the interconnected layout of Jiang Liu City’s fifty-seven districts and hide.
In a large city with tens of thousands of residents and interconnected districts and channels, an old man blending in was like a drop in the ocean, nearly impossible to find again.
Meanwhile, the other remaining hidden guard of the Xiahou Family took advantage of this moment of stagnated Qi to drop his crossbow, now out of bolts, to lighten his load and dashed off in the opposite direction.
Furious, Wu Qiong had to weigh the lesser of two evils; preferring to let a mere hidden guard escape than a seasoned old-timer of the Jianghu, he was just about to give chase when suddenly a sword cry rang out. Xu Shihua, who had just turned into an alley, stumbled backward as if he were a bag with a torn seam, coughing up fresh blood.
A longsword was embedded in his shoulder, piercing straight through, its design bulkier than the current sword models, giving it an air of sturdy reliability, resembling the pure gentlemen of old.
Stunned, Wu Qiong instinctively stopped, his eyes wide as he saw a young scholar in a dark blue long coat emerge from the alley, lips slightly pursed, a translucent jade flute on his waist, his left hand holding the sword scabbard. Clearly, it was he who had employed the Sword Release technique undetected by Xu Shihua and struck with deadly accuracy.
The scholar remained calm, threw his sword scabbard with his left hand, sending a wicked wind over a distance of more than ten meters without losing force, striking hard on the last Xiahou Family hidden guard. The execution clearly involved a sophisticated Acupoint Striking Technique, causing the hidden guard to stagger and fall to the ground.
Wang Anfeng stepped out and saw the scholar who had made the move. Although it was slightly dark and there was no light around, his Pupil Skill was extremely strong, and he still saw the face of the scholar, who was surprisingly an acquaintance. It was the same scholar who had not yet left Jiangnan and had gotten into a dispute with a disciple of the Mysterious Sword Sect over some matter at a tea stall, resulting in a fight on the spot.
Back then, it seemed he had the combat skills of the Seventh Rank Realm, but now it appeared he had concealed his true capabilities. Just relying on his ability to repel Xu Shihua and the way he threw the Sword Scabbard as if it were feather-light, he was firmly standing above the Sixth Rank, which ordinary Martial Artists could hardly glimpse in their lifetime.
The unexpected guest should have been guarded against, but Wu Qiong, seeing this young man’s familiar face, instead gave a sigh of relief. His steps unconsciously slowed, his brows unfurled from a frown, and a thought flashed through Wang Anfeng’s mind as he roughly guessed the young man’s background.
The young scholar had already drawn his sword and scabbard, indicating he was likely not skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Wang Anfeng then gracefully backed away, and taking out a fine jade flute from his belt, he wielded it as a short sword. While attacking the repeatedly frustrated Xu Shihua, he called out loudly:
“Uncle Master, Jiang Lan, my sister-apprentice, are you all unharmed?”
Wu Qiong relaxed further and approached with large strides, laughing as he spoke:
“All is well, but why have you come?”
The scholar laughed, and with the jade flute as his sword, he unfolded his moves, entangling greenish Sword Qi, and rendered Xu Shihua, already injured internally, utterly disheveled. Forcing a Fifth Rank martial artist into such a state, even if the latter was already wounded and his bodily Qi and blood were in turmoil, he could still be considered a skilled combatant.
Wu Qiong quickly caught up, and amidst his laughter, he lent a hand from the left, coordinating with the jade flute sword technique attacking Xu Shihua’s waist.
Both were from the same sect, their Martial Arts techniques were similar, and some of Ye Zhuhua’s sword techniques were even passed down by Wu Qiong. Knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, their combined power was greater, and the Vigorous Qi rolled endlessly, as if there were an invisible Heavenly Nets Earthly Traps by Xu Shihua’s side, making his movements progressively more constrained.
Xue Qinshuang and others, seeing the two of them capable of capturing Xu Shihua, halted their steps. After all, although Wu Qiong and his companion differed in skill levels, they belonged to the same lineage and their Qi Mechanism was harmonic, like the unimpeded rotation of Yin and Yang. To step forward rashly might disrupt the Qi Mechanism, creating flaws that shouldn’t exist.
After a dozen moves, Xu Shihua seemed to have finally been cornered, letting out a low growl, he forcefully took a brush of the sleeve from Wu Qiong. As a Fifth Rank Martial Artist and a combatant from the Confucian Sect, known for dominating the Jianghu with their immense and heavenly Qi, this strike would surely crush tendons and break bones, causing fatal internal injuries.
Yet, the implications of the unexpected intervention by the Xiahou Family were still unclear and with Wei Jinping already dead, it was necessary to keep a living witness. Wu Qiong, surprised by this, felt a surge of Inner Qi, which he then managed to retract by about sixty to seventy percent in an instant, while the remaining thirty to forty percent continued unabatedly heavy.
In a Martial Artists’ clash, retracting strength by even a fraction is far more difficult than exerting it, a true display of skill, possible only for those, like him, who had once touched the threshold of the Heavenly Sect. For newer entrants to the Middle Third Rank, despite their vigorous Qi, they were not yet able to manage it as desired—their Qi still exuberant and uncontrollable.
According to Wu Qiong’s estimation during his fight with Xu Shihua, these thirty to forty percent of Vigorous Qi should be enough to disrupt his Qi Mechanism. With Ye Zhuhua in front, he would then withdraw in steps and press down with the jade flute on his shoulder acupoints to capture this villain.
However, Xu Shihua, who had also concealed his prowess during their fight, though he sprawled blood from his mouth, his Qi Mechanism was still extending, never severed; instead, he used Wu Qiong’s move as leverage, stepping forward abruptly.
With a palm that turned like the overturning of heaven and earth, striking out with a powerful blow far different from his normal Martial Arts technique, he pressed down on the scholar’s shoulder, pinning him halfway to his knees, his form like a diving hawk, as he passed over the scholar’s head.
Taking advantage of the movement, he swung his elbow, driving his arm like a short whip, crashing into Ye Zhuhua’s spine, sending him stumbling forward while he himself shot forward explosively, faster than before. In a brief moment, the intricacies of a Martial Artist’s lethal intent were displayed thoroughly, showcasing timing and cunning to an extreme.
Wang Anfeng thought about Xue Qinshuang’s brother’s incident, guessing it was related to the secret documented in the scrolls. His mind was distracted; although he realized the situation in an instant, he was still too late to lend support, while Wu Qiong managed to catch the young scholar, helping him dissipate the force on his body but failed to act in time.
By the time he was ready, Xu Shihua had already escaped, disappearing into the night.
PS: Today, the second update is delivered… Three thousand words.
