Characters of the martial realm often harbor no admiration for one another at the first meeting, but tact and face made public aggression improper. They would often reach out for a handshake in the guise of friendliness, but in actuality it was a duel of sorts. It was not unusual for the inferior fighter to have his bones broken and his hand swollen, or to beg for mercy when the pain became too much. Ma Yu only thought that Peng Lianhu was practicing the old pugilistic habit of being friendly on the surface but secretly appraising the other’s strength. He never thought that Peng Lianhu would have another vicious trick up his sleeve. Thus, when both of them exerted strength, the five poisonous needles not only pierced his fingertips but sunk straight down to the bones of his fingers.
By the time Ma Yu realized what had happened and struck with his right palm, Peng Lianhu had already leapt away.
All Qiu Chuji knew was that his Elder Martial Brother had been shaking hands with someone when his facial expression suddenly changed and he attacked. Qiu Chuji hurriedly asked, “What happened?”
Ma Yu replied angrily, “Crafty scoundrel, he poisoned me.” With that, he advanced towards Peng Lianhu.
Qiu Chuji had always known his Elder Martial Brother to be tolerant and had never seen him attack anyone in over ten years, yet at this moment, he opened his attack with the most formidable of Eagle Shooting Hero
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Quanzhen’s skills – the ‘Three Flowers Atop’ palm technique. Qiu Chuji knew it must have taken a great deception for him to be so furious, so with a flick of his sword, he weaved left and right to reach Peng Lianhu. With a quick “swish, swish, swish”, he had dealt him three strokes. By this time Peng Lianhu had already retrieved his Twin Brushes and successfully deflected two of Qiu Chuji’s strokes while managing to deal a strike with one brush. But Peng Lianhu never expected Qiu Chuji’s palm technique to be as ferocious as his sword. In that very instant when he was about to withdraw his brush – but not quite – Qiu Chuji reached out and grabbed it by the tip. He shouted:
“Withdraw!” Combining internal power and external force, Qiu Chuji tried to break the brush; despite his using full energy, Peng Lianhu, being a formidable opponent, did not allow the brush to shatter. Qiu Chuji followed by guiding his sword straight forward and Peng Lianhu had no choice but to let go of his brush and evade. With the sword in his right hand and palm technique in his left, Qiu Chuji kept up the attack ceaselessly. Peng Lianhu had lost one brush and his right arm was also feeling stiff and weak. Having lost his edge, he repeatedly retreated.
At this point, Sha Tongtian and Liang Ziwong were embroiled with Ma Yu. Ouyang Ke and Hou Tonghai came forward to aid Peng Lianhu, one to the left and the other to the right. Faced with strong opponents, Qiu Chuji felt even more energized. With gliding palms and flashing sword, the more he fought the swifter his attacks became. Qiu Chuji was fighting three people by himself and had not lost the advantage. Over on the other side, Ma Yu was having trouble maintaining the situation. His right palm was already swollen and afflicted with numbness and itching as the poison gradually took effect. Although he knew that the needles were poisoned, he never expected such drastic reaction. He understood that the more he exerted himself, the faster his blood would circulate and the quicker the poison would attack his heart. Immediately he sat down and engaged his internal energy to halt the poison’s progress, while still wielding a sword in his left hand for self-protection. Liang Ziwong’s weapon was a shovel, similar to the ones used for grave digging.
Between slashing vertically, scooping horizontally, and at times sweeping across or striking directly, the variations in his attack were plentiful. Sha Tongtian’s iron stick was heavy and even more dangerous. After ten moves or so, Ma Yu’s breathing increased and his defensive circle shrank. Inwardly resisting the poison and outwardly defending against two enemies, he soon felt lethargic in spite having an accomplished level of internal energy.
Qiu Chuji was shocked at the sight of his Elder Martial Brother seated on the ground, with hot vapor rising slowly from his head as if he were being steamed. He wanted to finish off his three opponents quickly and rush to aid him, but these opponents were sticky and he could not spare a moment to pause in his attack and escape. Admittedly Peng Lianhu was a weaker fighter, but Ouyang Ke was proficient in both internal energy and external moves. His attacks were both fierce and unusual. In terms of ability, he was way above Peng Lianhu. From what Qiu Chuji could tell, Ouyang Ke’s kung fu looked similar to that of the ‘Western Poison’, someone the Quanzhen Sect had always feared. This startled him and he thought, “Who is this person? Could he be a disciple of the ‘Western Poison’? Has ‘Western Poison’ arrived on the Central Plains? I wonder if he’s actually here in Zhongdu.” While following this train of thought he momentarily lost concentration and repeatedly encountered close shaves.
Yang Tiexin knew in his heart that the skills of these two priests were way above his, but seeing both of them in danger he immediately lifted his spear and thrust towards Ouyang Ke’s back. Qiu Chuji yelled, “Brother Yang, don’t throw your life away in vain!” By the time he finished his sentence; Ouyang Ke had already broken the spear with his left foot and kicked Yang Tiexin to the ground with his right. At this very moment they heard the sound of hooves as a great number of 308
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horses galloped swiftly towards them. Leading the way were none other than the father and son, Wanyan Honglie and Wanyan Kang.
Wanyan Honglie caught sight of his wife seated on the ground from the distance. Delighted, he hurried to her but a blade suddenly sliced through the air and came right at him. Slanting his body to avoid the slash, he saw that the wielder of the blade was a young girl dressed in red. At this point, his soldiers came forward and started fighting Mu Nianci.
Over on the other end, Wanyan Kang was startled at seeing his Shifu and shouted, “We’re all on the same side, everyone stop fighting!”
Only after repeating this a few times did Peng Lianhu and the others finally retreat; the soldiers and Mu Nianci also halted. Wanyan Kang approached Qiu Chuji and bowed. “Shifu, let your disciple do the introductions,” he said. “These are all senior pugilists engaged by my father.”
Qiu Chuji nodded and went to check on his Elder Martial Brother. Ma Yu’s right palm was black all over and, lifting up his sleeve, he saw that the blackness had spread all the way to the upper part of his arm. Astonished, he said, “How could the poison be like that?” Turning around, he said to Peng Lianhu, “Hand over the antidote!”
Peng Lianhu hesitated while thinking, “Just a little while more time and this person will die, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to offend the little prince. Should I save him or not?”
Now that Ma Yu had no more enemies attacking him, he concentrated all his internal energy on resisting the poison and sure enough, the poison halted in his arm and could not travel further upwards. Instead, the blackness gradually started moving downwards.
Wanyan Kang rushed over to his mother and exclaimed, “Mother, I’ve finally found you!”
Bao Xiruo was frightened and replied, “Do not ask me to return to the palace. I never will!”
Shocked, Wanyan Honglie and Wanyan Kang said in unison, “What?”
Bao Xiruo pointed at Yang Tiexin. “My husband is still alive and I will follow him to the ends of the earth,” she said.
This came as no ordinary blow to Wanyan Honglie and he silently mouthed something to Liang Ziwong. Liang Ziwong understood the prince’s intentions and flicked his right hand, sending three of his ‘Bone-Penetrating Meridian Nails’ flying towards Yang Tiexin’s essential junctions. Qiu Chuji saw the flight of the nails but it was too late for him to do anything and Yang Tiexin would surely not be able to evade them. Having no projectiles with him, he grabbed a Jin soldier out of desperation and hurled him towards the space between Liang Ziwong and Yang Tiexin. With a loud
“ah”, the three ‘Meridian Nails’ struck the soldier.
Liang Ziwong regarded his ‘Bone-Penetrating Meridian Nails’ as his greatest skill. Having sent three nails simultaneously, it was absurd to think he would miss the target. Seeing Qiu Chuji foil his move in such a peculiar way, he roared angrily and attacked. Peng Lianhu saw this and decided against providing the antidote, knowing that the little prince’s priority was rescuing his mother. He leapt forward abruptly and grabbed hold of Bao Xiruo’s arm. With two swishing sounds, Qiu Chuji sent his sword thrusting towards both Liang Ziwong and Peng Lianhu. Both saw the fierceness of Eagle Shooting Hero
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the strokes and were forced backwards. Qiu Chuji thundered at Wanyan Kang, “Ignorant boy, you have called your enemy ‘father’ and led eighteen years of your life in folly. Now that your real father is here, aren’t you going to acknowledge him?”
Having heard it from his mother, Wanyan Kang was already eighty percent convinced. Hearing it from his Shifu now further reinforced his belief and he glanced at Yang Tiexin. Wanyan Kang saw that his clothes were old and tattered and his face was smeared with dirt; turning around, he saw his