Book 53 Chapter 11 – The Wind and the Cloud at the Abandoned Village

Translator: Foxs' Wuxia

Upright and unafraid, Li Yuanji walked at the very front, a personal attendant carried his Splitting Horse Spear for him, the divine light in his pair of eyes flashing, he stopped about a hundred paces away, after sweeping his gaze around, he finally fixed it on Wanwan, evidently he was taken in by her out-of-the-world countenance.

Following him, Mei Xun, Kang Qiaoli, Shi Wanbao, Li Nantian, Xue Wanche, Feng Liben and five martial art masters, his personal guards – stood in a row behind him, sealing off the northern end of the main street passing through the village, everybody was murderous looking, acting as if as soon as there was a three-word disagreement, they would immediately use force in confrontation.

The imposing manner of being the Luoyang’s conquerors was shown in full light in Li Yuanji and his men. Three of the personal guards held the torches in their hands high in the air, illuminating the dim and dark abandoned village.

From their point of view, they could not see Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai standing behind the window, looking out.

Wanwan acted as if she did not know Li Yuanji and the others had crashed into the abandoned village; her eyes looked at her nose, her nose looked at her heart, her demeanor sincere and calm, but cold and detached.

Inside the house, Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai groaned inwardly, the most threatening enemy, Yang Xuyan has not yet appeared, but based on his usual style as the Shadow Assassin, he could pounce out any moment from the dark, and launched deadly attack toward his prey.

Rong Fengxiang laughed aloud, took a few steps forward, raised his cupped fist to greet Li Yuanji, and spoke respectfully, “Turns out it is Qi Wang honoring us by your presence. Laofu Rong Fengxiang of Luoyang, paying my respect to Qi Wang.”

Mei Xun stepped forward behind Li Yuanji, and spoke to him in low voice. Li Yuanji nodded repeatedly while listening carefully to Mei Xun explaining Rong Fengxiang’s identity and background.

The mountain wind blew, the burning torches were making crackling noise. From time to time, there were noises where the wind was blowing things around, which enhanced the ghostly atmosphere of the abandoned village.

When Mei Xun finished speaking, Li Yuanji coldly said, “Turns out Rong Laoban of Hebei Shanghui Hang She [chamber of commerce business agency]. Who are the others? Who is this Guniang?”

He spoke without any trace of politeness; he did not consider Rong Fengxiang worthy in his eyes at all. Pi Shouxuan the others, none was not people who ran amuck and tyrannize others; however, everybody was extremely shrewd, they did not show the unhappiness in their hearts on their faces.

Inside the house, Xu Ziling was now convinced that Yin Gui Pai and Li Yuanji did not have any direct dealings and relations, otherwise, there would not be any situation before his eyes.

Wen Caiting’s tender voice spoke, “We are just vagabonds of the mountain and fields, not worth Qi Wang taking notice of us. I wonder if Qi Wang coming here this time is to hunt down Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai?”

Shaken, Li Yuanji said, “Where are they?”

Bian Bufu hatefully said, “They are in the house!” Raising his still-intact arm, he pointed to Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai standing behind the window.

‘Clang! Clang! Qiang! Qiang!’

While Li Yuanji was taking the Splitting Horse Spear from his personal guard’s shoulders with one hand, the others also, one by one, pulled their weapons, as if they were facing big enemy; it could clearly be seen that even though Xu Ziling has been seriously injured, they still did not dare to be careless and took him lightly.

Wanwan spoke indifferently, “Whoever wants to kill Xu Ziling, I will kill him first.”

This moment, even Li Yuanji, who had voracious desire for flower and good looks, also felt Wanwan’s demonic aura. If it were someone else who said that, without even need to think, he would have issued the order to attack; however, this moment he only asked in astonishment, “Who actually are you, Guniang?”

Kang Qiaoli stepped forward to his side and spoke in a low voice. Listening to him, the murderous intent in Li Yuanji’s pair of eyes flared greatly, the expression showing in his eyes was as sharp as a blade, he ran his gaze over Wanwan, when Kang Qiaoli finished speaking, he threw his head back and said with a laugh, “Turns out Yin Gui Pai’s Wan Da Xiaojie, no wonder you dare to boast shamelessly like this, obstructing my, Li Yuanji’s hunting down the offender to the throne. However, it seems that Wan Xiaojie is powerless to defend yourself, how could you spare time to meddle in other people’s business?”

Pi Shouxuan joined in, “Qi Wang is indeed a brilliant divine martial art master, in a short while you already have a complete grasp of the situation.” And then he shouted coldly, “Xu Ziling, if you are a real man, roll out immediately and personally answer Qi Wang.”

Laughing tenderly, Wen Caiting said, “Since when did Xu Ziling become a turtle that pulls its head in, letting other people to stick out her head for you?”

Inside the house, Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai cursed inwardly, knowing that the older Pi Shouxuan and Wen Caiting had refined ability, they were able to see that he, Xu Ziling, was having a problem. Otherwise, with Xu Ziling’s martial art skill, plus one Hou Xibai, even if they were unable to match the opponent, they could always escape without any trace, why would they need Wanwan to stick out her head for them?

Furthermore, Pi and Wen, two people were not giving thought to Wanwan at all; they were not afraid that Wanwan would have a conflict with Li Yuanji, but they were afraid that the ‘Tian Mo Jue’ in Wanwan’s possession would fall into Li Yuanji’s hands, and thus they were unable to get it back. After all, Wanwan belonged to the demonic school, it was not appropriate to let outsiders intervene in their school’s affair.

All three sides had their own misgivings, the situation was delicate.

Xu Ziling took a deep breath, “Let’s go out,” he spoke in low voice.

“How’s your condition?” Hou Xibai asked anxiously.

“A bit better,” Xu Ziling replied, “I should strive to stake everything for a couple of moves. Really strange! How come Yang Xuyan still has not shown up? He misses a great opportunity to kill or injure us for nothing.”

Hou Xibai nodded his agreement, he also could not figure out the reason behind Yang Xuyan watching with folded arms. He was both deeply aware of the dispute between Wanwan and the elders within her Sect, and he knew clearer than anybody about the condition of Xu Ziling’s injury, hence he had full control of the entire situation, there was no reason for him to let go of such a good opportunity.

Xu Ziling strode toward the front door, Hou Xibai flashed and was out of the door one step ahead of him. Taking out the folding Fan of Beauty, ‘swish’, he opened it, and suavely waved the folding fan lightly, while taking a striding step out of the door. Laughing aloud, he said, “I often heard the ‘Yun Yu Shuang Xiu’ Pi Shouxuan’s martial art skill is reckoned to be first or second best in Yin Gui Pai, furthermore, because there is this Lin Shihong, the green-coming-out-of-the-blue good disciple whose fame for fighting prowess is even more flourishing, let me, Hou Xibai, ask for advice by tasting a couple of moves, to see whether the name matched the reality.”

He did not really want to challenge Pi Shouxuan for a fight, his aspiration was to make the situation even more complex. The most formidable part was that he was secretly mocking and pointing out the relationship between Yin Gui Pai and Lin Shihong. Since they were members of the same party with Lin Shihong, naturally they were enemies and not friends with Li Yuanji.

Li Nantian shouted loudly, “Shut up! Hou Xibai, you don’t know how to cherish your good name, you have the impertinence to shelter an offender to the throne, you are committing mortal crime. You haven’t immediately kneeled and begged for forgiveness?”

Xu Ziling unhurriedly and calmly followed behind Hou Xibai out of the house, he smiled and said, “One day Kou Zhong is not dead yet, the world is not the Li’s Tang’s world yet, what offender to the throne, committing mortal crime? What an extreme joke!”

Li Yuanji and the others, none was not stunned. Seeing Xu Ziling’s appearance, also hearing his voice, there was not any sign of the serious internal injury that Yang Xuyan described to them; they could not help feeling at a loss inwardly.

Li Yuanji originally already made the decision that as soon as Xu Ziling showed himself, he would immediately give the order to attack. But this moment he could not help but hesitating. Moreover, affected by Hou Xibai’s remark, he was not without any misgivings toward Pi Shouxuan’s side. Assuming Xu Ziling’s internal injuries was healed, and Yin Gui Pai people set themselves against him, Li Yuanji, this battle would immediately turn into a battle that he had no assurance at all.

Rong Fengxiang raised his voice, “Ol’ Rong has a proposal, I am asking Qi Wang to give it a consideration.”

While a bit impatient, Li Yuanji was looking at him, Wanwan retreated to stand between Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai, with her body and her clothes as the cover, she secretly grasped Xu Ziling’s hand.

A peculiar feeling welled up in Xu Ziling’s heart, for the first time, he felt that he could completely trust Wanwan, sensing that not only she could not possibly harm him, she was heart and soul coming to help him.

Apart from Kou Zhong, Wanwan was the person most familiar with the circulation and condition of the true qi within Xu Ziling’s body. If even she had no strategy left to try on him, the possibility that Shi Qingxuan would be able to cure him would be even more remote.

Seeing Wanwan affectionately moved between Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai, although Li Yuanji and Pi Shouxuan, two sides of men and horses – were unable to see their movement of grasping each other’s hand, they were all greatly disturbed.

Speaking about cunning and quick-witted, Wanwan definitely was at the top among everybody present. She revealed a smile, which could bewitch any man to his death – toward Li Yuanji, tenderly and gently she said, “Oh, Qi Wang! Whatever proposal Rong Laoban submits to you, you must not, by all means – accept it. Because he is originally Pi Chen Daoren [Taoist] of Laojun Miao, one of our holy school’s Two Sects and Six Ways. I am sure Qi Wang has heard about him. What they want is the treasured canon ‘Tian Mo Jueí’ of our humble school in nujia’s possession. Qi Wang, please understand.”

On Pi Shouxuan’s side, everybody was furious. It should be noted that the demonic school had an unwritten rule, which was: they must never reveal anything concerning the demonic school to the people outside the demonic school. Wanwan revealed Rong Fengxiang’s identity to Li Yuanji just like that, it was tantamount to betraying the demonic school, and that she considered the entire demonic school as the enemy.

In his heart, Xu Ziling felt a burst of gratitude; he understood that Wanwan was buying time so that he could treat his injury.

While she was speaking, Wanwan’s Tian Mo true qi slowly cycled in his meridians, viscera and lungs – three times. Based on Tian Mo true qi’s nature, which could collect demonic qi, she was able to absorb Yang Xuyan’s evil poison invading his system by bits and pieces, and took it away. The circulation of her power was just at its critical juncture.

Dan Mei shrieked, “Wan’er, how could you speak up such disgraceful words?” [Note: according to the dictionary, ‘disgraceful’ as in behavior that is unfilial, rebellious or otherwise in grave breach of the norms of society.]

Hearing that, Li Yuanji’s pair of eyes lit up. Whether Rong Fengxiang was Pi Chen, he did not give a damn, but the ‘Tian Mo Jue’ in Wanwan’s possession was no small matter. It was the emblem of the demonic school’s honor and disgrace. If he could seize the treasured canon, not only he could greatly increase his own prestige, he could also make Li Yuan’s – who detest the demonic school bitterly – dragon’s heart very pleased. His meritorious deed would not be inferior to capturing Xu Ziling alive.

Although Pi Shouxuan really wished they could besiege Wanwan immediately, but because Li Yuanji was watching like a tiger on the side, he had no choice but to suppress his displeasure with great difficulty.

Wen Caiting also suppressed her anger; she spoke softly, “There’s a common saying that says each family must sweep the snow in front of their door. In spite of Qi Wang trying to catch the offender to the throne, our humble Sect’s traitor is going to be dealt with by us. Qi Wang, please make up your mind.”

Letting out a cold snort, Li Yuanji said, “Evil demon evildoer, you have the impertinence to threaten me, Li Yuanji; I am afraid you are tired of living. If you are sensible, you will roll away as far as possible for me, don’t obstruct me from arresting the offender to the throne, otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite.”

Right this moment, a voice came from the house that Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai had just left, saying, “Evil demon evildoer? Ha! What a good evil demon evildoer. Even if Li Yuan personally came, he would not have dared to boast shamelessly like that, to say nothing of you, Li Yuanji, such a yellow-haired kid.”

Hearing that, other than the people of Pi Shouxuan’s side, everybody’s countenance changed.

The consider-himself-unexcelled-in-the-world, going-on-the-rampage-all-over-the-world, who, until now, no one could do anything toward him – Shi Zhixuan, with his hands behind his back, leisurely stepped out of the house behind the three people, and walked over towards Li Yuanji’s side without any scruples whatsoever.

No matter how dauntless Li Yuanji was, he still revealed a shocked and nervous expression. With all his men, they stepped aside and took their position to wait in tight formation.

In Chang’an, Shi Zhixuan was besieged by martial art masters under Li Yuan’s personal command inside the room at Wu Lou Si, in the end Shi Zhixuan still managed to force his way out of the encirclement. This matter was still fresh in their memory. Therefore, even though they had many men, a great force, no one had the slightest confidence to score a victory.

Shi Zhixuan’s appearance immediately turned the whole situation around.

Wanwan, Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai groaned inwardly. Shi Zhixuan was even more difficult to deal with compared to Pi Shouxuan and Li Yuanji, two sides added together. It was also only this moment that the two understood why Yang Xuyan did not dare to appear, which was because Shi Zhixuan was in secret place. Furthermore, no wonder Pi Shouxuan and the others did not take Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai to heart.

Shi Zhixuan stopped and stood calmly about ten paces away from Li Yuanji, the demonic light in his pair of eyes flaring greatly, he smiled and said, “Why did Qi Wang suddenly become a mute? I, Shi Zhixuan, have always been viewed as evil demon evildoer by the so-called warrior of the right way. Since you consider yourself to be of the right way, let Ol’ Shi test whether you have the weight to get rid of the guardian of the demonic way.”

It did not matter how thick the skin on Li Yuanji’s face was, he could not withstand Shi Zhixuan’s public contempt and humiliation. With a loud shout, the Splitting Horse Spear shot out from below and stabbed at an angle, straight toward the pit of Shi Zhixuan’s stomach.

Mei Xun’s golden spear, Kang Qiaoli’s Tujue cavalry sword, immediately attacked from Li Yuanji’s left side toward Shi Zhixuan. Feng Liben’s sword and Shi Wanbao’s lance also launch offensive from Li Yuanji’s right side in Shi Zhixuan’s direction, to do everything they could so that Shi Zhixuan would be overwhelmed and would be difficult for him to display his Bu Si Yin Fa.

Xue Wanche and Li Nantian, one wielding copper truncheon, the other a long sword, circled around from the two wings toward Shi Zhixuan’s rear, to prevent Shi Zhixuan from retreating backward. Li Yuanji’s five personal guard martial art masters hurriedly tossed away their torches and pulled out the saber from their waist and stood to protect Li Yuanji from left, right, and behind, ready to guard his good self at any time.

Watching this, Xu Ziling was puzzled inwardly, if he put himself in Shi Zhixuan’s position, no matter from which angle he was looking at it, the severe battle was still unnecessary.

First of all, Shi Zhixuan shouldn’t be willing to kill Li Yuanji. Because in overturning the Li Tang’s world, Li Yuanji had a great value of utilization, both to control Li Jiancheng and to influence Li Yuan, but also as an important chess piece in dealing with Li Shimin.

Secondly, with Shi Zhixuan’s might and martial art skill, if Pi Shouxuan and the other stated that they and Shi Zhixuan were allies, no matter how arrogant and conceited Li Yuanji was, under such circumstances, they could only sound out the difficulties and retreat to avoid defeat. If Shi Zhixuan was willing to promise that after taking care of Wanwan he would hand over Xu Ziling, Li Yuanji would be very grateful to him.

The most confusing thing for Xu Ziling was that Shi Zhixuan’s words and actions were clearly aimed at Li Yuanji. Just like Ba Fenghan utilizing Li Yuanji’s crabby, arrogant and unruly spleen character – to force him to make his move, to fight at the head of his troops, and then to use him to control the overall situation.

Amidst his long laughter, within the narrow space inside the enemy’s siege, he displayed profound and abstruse, swifter than ghost and demon, flashing, shifting and swaying, so that it appeared that they have lost the target of their attack, it was difficult for the enemy make their move with full strength. One finger jabbed out, it hit the tip of the Splitting Horse Spearhead.

Li Yuanji’s whole body shook severely, his follow-up moves disappeared completely, he let out a muffled groan, and staggered and retreated backward. Greatly startled, two personal guard martial art masters hurriedly flashed into the gap between the battle of the two sides, two sabers were raised at the same time, they staked everything to hack toward Shi Zhixuan, their reaction was first-class fast.

Mei Xun’s golden spear, Kang Qiaoli’s cavalry sword, Feng Liben’s sword, Shi Wanbao’s lance, separately, from left and right, from different tricky angles – swiftly attacked Shi Zhixuan.

At this moment Li Nantian and Xue Wanche moved to the position to attack Shi Zhixuan’s rear. Seeing the turn of events not too encouraging, they attacked together to swiftly stab the vital part on Shi Zhixuan’s back.

Even with Shi Zhixuan’s ability, he was still unable to deal with such attack that came from four sides, eight directions, toppling the mountains and overturning the seas – at the same time.

Suddenly there was a flash in front of their eyes, Shi Zhixuan soared up; not only to evade all the attacks, but marvelously, to the extend that it was difficult to describe, as if it was effortless, both of his feet separately stepped on the heads of the two personal guards in front of him.

The frightening sound of cracking skull as the heads met the feet was heard, blood seeped out of the two guards’ seven apertures, the long sabers dropped down, they tumbled backward, and immediately died on the spot.

Li Yuanji roared, the Splitting Horse Spear turned into myriad of light and shadow, like the Yangtze River, the Great River, attacking Shi Zhixuan in the air.

Mei Xun and the others, a group of men was now situated behind Shi Zhixuan. Although they immediately regrouped their offensive, in the end they were still one step too late.

The closest were the three Li Yuanji’s personal guard martial art masters. Seeing Shi Zhixuan ruthlessly killed their colleagues, everybody was overcome with hatred toward the enemy; dashing on bravely with no thought of personal safety, they brandished their saber from different positions, to hack and chop Shi Zhixuan, who was still in the air.

Three sabers and one spear all struck empty air, with rapid-beyond-human-comprehension, Shi Zhixuan dropped down like a nail to the ground. Both hands waved to strike, the three personal guard martial art masters were hit and thrown outside, none was able to take another breath of air.

Immediately Shi Zhixuan raised his hands with the palm up, creating a burst of impossible-to-resist-or-to-guard-against hurricane of qi power, attacking the group of enemies swarming toward him.

Li Yuanji was worthy to be called a martial art master, he launched his special skill, the Splitting the Horse Spear became like a living viper, it revolved at great speed in his hands. The moment Shi Zhixuan was dealing with the attack from behind, he swiftly took Shi Zhixuan’s throat position. If Shi Zhixuan evaded to the side, he could, with the others providing support, regroup the siege’s net.

Victory and defeat were only one fine line apart.

Charging-past Li Nantian, Xue Wanche, Mei Xun, and the others felt like they were knocking against an iron wall, a copper rampart. Not only it was difficult to advance a cun, their pair of eyes was like being brushed by a knife, it was difficult to open. Such a demonic power was indeed terrifying to the extreme.

‘Whoosh!’

Shi Zhixuan’s leg flew, it hit squarely the middle section of Li Yuanji’s Splitting Horse Spear’s body.

Li Yuanji’s treasured spear nearly fell off his hands, the palm of his hands was burning like fire, the pit of his stomach felt like it was struck by a huge sledgehammer. Overwhelmed with shock, he leaped up and flew backward.

By the time Mei Xun and the others cried ‘Not good!’ Shi Zhixuan already unleashed his Huan Mo Shenfa, like a shadow attached to the form, he ran after Li Yuanji.

Mei Xun pursued like crazy, but was already unable to prevent what was about to happen.

They saw Shi Zhixuan and Li Yuanji, two flickering figures, like rising rabbit, falling magpie – fighting each other at the entrance of the abandoned village, so fast that it appeared blurry and confusing, in the most fierce and severe, the most intense close combat. Even Xu Ziling and the others, who were far away from the fight – also felt like they had blurry vision, and their breathing could not flow freely. Furthermore, they had a vague feeling that Shi Zhixuan really did not want to kill Li Yuanji, but he wanted to catch him alive. Otherwise, Li Yuanji would have breathed his last early on.

In order to catch such a martial art master like Li Yuanji, even a brilliant person like Shi Zhixuan still had to spend a great deal of effort.

Trying to catch up, Li Nantian and the others stopped suddenly, they did not dare to move half a finger anymore, afraid to provoke Shi Zhixuan’s misunderstanding.

Li Yuanji’s Splitting Horse Spear fell off his hands and dropped to the ground, his face was deathly grey, his entire body limply leaned in Shi Zhixuan’s arm.

Grabbing Li Yuanji’s back, Shi Zhixuan put him in front of him, facing Li Nantian and the others, he calmly said, “Step back ten paces for me.”

Li Nantian and the others you looked at me I gazed at you, helpless, they retreated. If some misfortune came upon Li Yuanji, everybody could not escape the blame.

In the abandoned village, no one dared to make any noise, only the sound of the whooshing wind was heard, and the rustling noise of the trees.

Shi Zhixuan coldly shouted, “Xuyan, you have not rolled out for me?”

Xu Ziling and the others suddenly realized that turned out Shi Zhixuan capturing Li Yuanji alive, his target was actually Yang Xuyan.

In these circumstances, if Yang Xuyan still refused to show himself, it would be akin to him personally killed Li Yuanji. This move of Shi Zhixuan was indeed absolutely wonderful.

Everybody held their breath and calmed their qi, waiting for Yang Xuyan’s reaction.

At this time Wanwan let go of Xu Ziling’s hand. The evil poison has been completely driven out of the latter’s body. However, because the injury to his meridians was too heavy, he could only condense part of his true qi, he was still unable to circulate the Long-Life Qi for self-treatment of his injury.

Shi Zhixuan spoke again, “This is the last chance, what I, Shi Zhixuan said, I will do, I never not dare to do it.”

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