“Bastard children from nowhere,” Mei Chaofeng sneered, “you wanted to trap me here, but now it is too late to run away!” She rushed after them. Nan Xiren, Quan Jinfa and Han Xiaoying did their best to engage her, while the three others united their strength to raise the slab of stone. It was just in time, because Mei Chaofeng had seized Nan Xiren’s iron rod and was moving her claws in direction of his eyes.
“Come quickly and help us”, Zhu Cong shouted. He pointed his finger upward and made gestures with his other hand, as if calling for the help of someone hidden on the heights. Surprised, Mei Chaofeng couldn’t stop herself from raising her eyes; but all she saw were the low clouds veiling half the moon... There was no one up there!
“Seven steps right!” Zhu Cong shouted. At these words, Ke Zhen’E threw six poisoned projectiles seven steps to his right, two at head height, two to the middle and two below, while bounding out of the hole. The other Freaks attacked from all sides at the same time. Mei Chaofeng let out a shriek of pain; two projectiles had reached her eyes! Fortunately for her, her agility allowed her to move her head back immediately, so that the invisible projectiles didn't penetrate into her brain, but she had definitely been blinded!
Feeling pain and rage, she struck downward with her two palms; but Ke Zhen’E had already escaped to one side. They heard two thuds, because her palms had hit a rock. Made even more furious, she sent out a kick that struck the slab and made it fly off. The Seven, afraid of the strength of her attacks, remained carefully to the side.
Since she couldn't see them any longer, she thrashed out with her senses, striking, scratching, and kicking. She looked like a furious tiger, or a demon, breaking everything in her path, while raising clouds of dust, breaking the branches of the trees, all without hurting any of her enemies, who were sufficiently far away, holding their breath. Later, her vision became completely dark, and she knew that the poison had taken effect. “Who did this?” she said with a terrifying voice. “Say it quickly, so that I die knowing who killed me...”
Zhu Cong made a gesture in direction of Ke Zhen’E to ask him to be quiet and to let Mei die in ignorance. Then he remembered that his Older Brother was blind, how could he have seen his gesture?
“Mei Chaofeng.” Ke said with an icy voice, “Do you remember ‘Divine Dragon Soaring through the Sky,’ Ke Pixie, and ‘Bat Soaring Through the Heavens,’ Ke Zhen’E?”
Mei Chaofeng responded with a thunderous and terrifying laugh. “So Old Bastard, you didn’t die!
You’re the one that used the poisonous projectiles, aren’t you? Have you come to avenge ‘Divine Dragon Soaring Through the Sky’s’ death?”
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“Precisely! Since you haven't died yet…that suits me well!”
Mei sighed and stayed silent.
The Seven Freaks remained on guard. At that moment, the moon was nearly hidden by the dark clouds, and everyone felt the insidious and penetrating cold. Mei Chaofeng stood immobile like a stone statue, her hands alongside her body, and the moon light reflecting off her sharp nails. The strong wind that blew from behind her raised her long hair. Han Xiaoying, who was in front of her, saw blood oozing from her eyes. Suddenly, Zhu Cong and Quan Jinfa shouted at the same time,
“She attacks, Older Brother!”
As their voices resounded again, Ke Zhen’E sensed a hit was about to arrive on his chest. He bounded into the air by delivering a heavy stroke to the ground with his staff, and landed on top of a tree that was behind him. The blow delivered by ‘Iron Corpse’ missed its target; instead, she planted her ten fingers in the trunk of the tree. The Six Freak’s faces were pale with terror. Had Ke Zhen’E
lingered for only one second, the nails would be planted in his body. How would he have been able to escape alive?
Having missed her adversary, Mei Chaofeng released a sudden long and weird howl, very piercing, but with a power that carried far.
“How unfortunate”, Zhu Cong thought, “she calls her husband ‘Copper Corpse’ for help.” Quickly, he shouted, “It is time to finish her!”
He mobilized all his energy into his arm and heavily hit Mei Chaofeng’s back, while Zhang Ahsheng raised a big stone which he brought down at her head.
‘Iron Corpse’, who had just lost her vision, didn't yet know how to protect herself by using her hearing, like Ke Zhen’E. The big stone, while coming down, made a noise that she could hear and she quickly avoided it. But she could not avoid Zhu Cong’s stroke. Even though she had trained her body for extreme resistance to accupoint strikes, the ‘Scholar’ not only had quick hands but also strong ones; she felt a stabbing pain in her back.
Zhu Cong wanted to take advantage of his position and continued to hit her, but Mei Chaofeng counter-attacked with a slash of her claws, and he moved back.
Just as the other Freaks got ready to step in, they heard a long howl coming from far away. It had the same tonal quality that Mei had used a while ago, and it gave them the creeps. Shortly, a second howl was heard, but this time a lot nearer.
“That person moves quickly,” the Seven thought, alarmed.
“Be careful, that is ‘Copper Corpse’!” Ke Zhen’E shouted.
Han Xiaoying ran over and looked down the hill; she saw a shadow approaching at a quick pace, howling. Mei Chaofeng had adopted a defensive stance, no longer attacking. She concentrated her internal energy to arrest the progress of the poison in her body, while waiting for her husband's arrival to help destroy the enemy.
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Zhu Cong made a sign to Quan Jinfa and the two men hid themselves in the brush. ‘Iron Corpse’
was dangerous by herself, but from the speed of ‘Copper Corpse’, Zhu Cong suspected that he could be even stronger than his wife. It was obviously impossible to defeat them when they were together. On the other hand, a chance existed if they took them by ruse.
Suddenly, Han Xiaoying uttered a shriek of surprise; she saw, in front of the running shadow, another smaller silhouette that was also climbing the hill. This silhouette moved more slowly, and, because it was small, no one had seen it before. She watched more attentively and saw that it was a child, Guo Jing certainly. Surprised and delighted, she hastened to meet him.
She was not very far from him and the downward slope was easy to descend, but ‘Copper Corpse’, a remarkable expert in lightness kung fu, was gaining on him quickly. Han Xiaoying hesitated: “I am not skilled enough to face ‘Copper Corpse’... But the child is going to fall into his hands, how can I not help?” She accelerated and shouted, “Quickly, child, run faster!”
Seeing her, Guo Jing uttered a yell of joy, unconscious of the imminent danger that threatened him.
For years, Zhang Ahsheng had been secretly in love with Han Xiaoying, but never dared express his feelings towards her. Seeing her running into terrifying danger, he feared for her safety and sprang forward to catch up and protect her.
On top of the hill, the other Freaks had stopped attacking Mei and observed the slope of the hill, keeping their invisible projectiles concealed, ready to intervene.
In the blink of an eye, Han Xiaoying reached Guo Jing; she took his small hand and turned on her heels to run back with him. They had hardly started, when she felt Guo Jing’s hand slip from her grip. The child uttered a loud scream; Chen Xuanfeng had grabbed him from behind. Han Xiaoying turned around with an agile move and, using the sword stroke ‘The Phoenix Nods it’s Head’, feinted towards the enemy's left armpit; then, moving to the side, raised the tip of the sword for a quick and precise thrust, aimed at his eyes. It was the very essence of the sophisticated technique of
‘The Sword of the Yue Maiden’.
Chen Xuanfeng took the child under his left arm, parried the stroke with his right, deflecting the blade. He followed with the palm stroke ‘To Push the Skiff while Following the Current’. The young woman retracted her weapon and moved away. But the arm of Chen Xuanfeng suddenly seemed to lengthen by half a foot. Han Xiaoying, who originally had the impression that she was outside of his range, was reached and struck on the shoulder. She fell to the ground.
This exchange took place in a flash. The merciless ‘Copper Corpse’ followed with a stroke of his claws directly at the top of Han Xiaoying’s head. The ‘Nine Yin White Bone Claws’ was a dangerous and cruel technique which destroyed flesh and broke bones. The stroke could not fail to penetrate the skull of the young woman. Zhang Ahsheng was some steps away and understood the danger; without thinking about his own safety, he threw himself on top of her, protecting her with his body. The claw fell, and the five fingers of ‘Copper Corpse’ penetrated the ‘Smiling Dhuda’s’
back. Zhang Ahsheng let out a terrifying howl and tried to reach his enemy's chest with his large knife. Chen Xuanfeng defended against it, causing the weapon to drop. ‘Copper Corpse’ returned with another palm against Zhang as he lay on the ground. Frightened, the other Freaks shouted as they hurried to their rescue.
“My ‘Shrew’,” shouted Chen Xuanfeng, “what happened here?”
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