Chapter 11: Blade
Translator: Christina Editor: Rundi
Hearing the scream, Jiang Zhiwei’s nerves were clearly triggered, and she accelerated the movement of her sword. In fewer than three moves, she was able to break through the defense of her opponents and stab their temples. Everything happened so fast that the two men in black couldn’t even give a complete screech before they died.
Meng Qi was forced to come back to earth when he heard the screech. Without thinking, he jumped away from the stone wall and ran to the other side of Jiang Zhiwei.
It wasn’t until now that he had the time to feel confused. “Why was Jiang Zhiwei able to finish off the two men so easily? A minute ago it still seemed that they were at the same level. Was she intentionally restraining her power?”
Yan Wujiang’s death obviously served as stimulation for Zhang Yuan Shan, Qing Jing, and Qi Xia. Their attacks became increasingly fierce, and within a minute they were able to defeat almost all the men in black, leaving only a few alive as hostages.
Qi Xia walked to Yan Wujiang. She stared at him for a while and sighed deeply. “Censer Host Yan has always been afraid of death. Due to ‘The Flying Yaksha’, all this time we have only assigned him to trivial work such as monitoring the casino. I didn’t expect that he would be the first one to lose his life.”
Zhang Yuan Shan kneeled down before the corpse. He checked the wounds and touched the tip of the corpse’s nose to confirm that Yan Wujiang was truly dead. He then announced with a solemn expression, “He is dead…”
All the others showed a similarly serious face. The “Owner of Samsara” didn’t deceive them. This wasn’t a game, nor was it a dream. If you die here, you would be forever dead!
“We can’t waste another second.” Qing Jing was short-tempered.
Zhang Yuan Shan waved his hand. “We are more likely to make mistakes when anxious. We should interrogate the hostages once again to ensure that the information we have obtained earlier is correct. Also, since so many people are after us, I worry that the owner of the castle already knows we are here. We will definitely encounter stronger enemies. Therefore, we need to adjust our plans accordingly.”
“Sister Qi, I will hand this to you,” he turned to Qi Xia and said.
Qi Xia glimpsed at Yan Wujiang’s corpse once again. “The ‘Flying Yaksha’ has always been protective of his family members. Even if he and Censer Host Yan didn’t get along well, I don’t know what trouble this will bring…”
She walked to the hostages and performed the ’13 Soul-plundering Hands’.
“It seems like the information we have about the layout of Yin Huang Castle is accurate.” Zhang Yuan Shan became certain as he listened to the hostages’ confessions. He then said with a frown, “Why would the owner of Yin Huang Castle gather all of the masters under him in the central hall and shut the gate of the hall to prevent anyone from entering? These men in black became a team without a leader.”
“Isn’t this a good sign? At least before we go into the central hall, we won’t need to worry about reinforcements, and the owner won’t be able to attack us either,” Qing Jing answered carelessly.
Qi Zheng Yan suddenly interjected, “But we eventually will go into the central hall. If we don’t find out what the owner is conspiring, we might suffer unexpected losses.”
“The key is, are we able to find out now? Or do you have extra time to spend on an investigation?” Qing Jing looked to the stone wall on the side.
At this moment, they all stood in the center of the tunnel and far away from the stone walls. On the other hand, Meng Qi, who was one of the two burdens for the team, wasn’t in the mood for talking as he saw that the other burden, Yan Wujiang, had died so easily.
Jiang Zhiwei held her sword tightly. A drop of blood slowly dripped from the tip of the sword. “Stop fighting. We will follow our original plan and act quickly. Regardless of what the owner is conspiring, we must arrive at the central hall before he initiates his plan.”
“This is the only option we have.” Zhang Yuan Shan stood up fiercely. “Let’s go.”
As they spoke, the three quickly disappeared at the fork road.
Qi Xia looked to Jian Zhiwei and then to Meng Qi, and said with a smile, “Zhiwei, since I am uselessly a few years older than you, let me call you Little Sister Zhiwei. I will listen to everything you say from now on.”
Jiang Zhiwei nodded without a smile. “Big Sister Qi, let’s go too. Be aware of traps.”
Seeing that they had started walking, Meng Qi quickly kneeled down and picked up the steel sword that lied beside a corpse.
“Use a blade instead. While a sword is hard to learn, a blade is much easier to use. For you, using a blade instead of a sword will make you at least two times stronger.” Jiang Zhiwei reminded Meng Qi. In the opinion of Xi Jian Pavilion people, a sword is purely a decoration without a few years of practice.
Meng Qi thought about it and realized that he might have heard this somewhere else too, so he threw away the sword without hesitation and picked up a long blade.
Given his height, it would be advantageous to fight near his enemies using a short blade, yet the shorter the blade, the larger the risk. Besides, his current body had great strength, and it was easy for him to control a long blade.
Affected by the death of Yan Wujiang and the cruel battles that they had gone through, the two girls were very depressed. On the other hand, Meng Qi had already recovered, but he didn’t dare to speak. He tried his best to follow Jiang Zhiwei as she swiped away poison arrows, agilely killed many men in black, and held onto his collar to carry him through a tunnel that was full of traps.
“I think we are almost there…” Qi Xia looked around and inspected.
Her voice broke the silence surrounding them. Jiang Zhiwei looked at the stone gate in front of them and said, “Be aware of poisonous gas.”
After Meng Qi had accomplished “Hundred-day Foundation”, he had a refreshed mind and also a pretty good memory. He remembered clearly that there was a tunnel behind the stone gate, which had a dragon claw on it. If they stepped on the traps in the tunnel, poison gas would spurt out. At the end of the tunnel, there was the secret chamber where Master Cheng Yong Cheng was trapped.
Qi Xia pushed the stone gate open and began to examine how the bricks were arranged carefully.
“Big Sister Qi’s family has a long history, and she is also a master of trickeries and traps,” Jiang Zhiwei explained to Meng Qi.
In fact, Meng Qi knew this even without her explanation. Qi Xia had solved many traps on their way here.
Qi Xia said with a smile while she continued her inspection, “You praise me too much, Little Sister Zhiwei. I am much weaker than you regarding Kungfu, so all I can do is to be better at these trivial things.”
Jiang Zhiwei smiled back insincerely and didn’t answer. Instead, she turned to Meng Qi and said with a disheartened expression, “I only learned from my sect how to cope with sneak attacks and protect myself. I need to let you know beforehand that I am not at all good at protecting other people.”
Obviously, she was thinking about Yan Wujiang’s death.
Meng Qi felt extremely scared but he pretended to be extremely brave. “No big deal. Without Ms. Jiang, I won’t be able to move a step and would have already followed Censer Host Yan’s path.”
This time, he said Ms. Jiang on purpose.
“Benefactor Jiang,” Jiang Zhiwei tirelessly corrected him and finally gave a smile.
Qi Xia suddenly laughed. “Little Sister Zhiwei, there is a hidden door in this tunnel, and I suspect that it would lead us directly to another secret chamber. Looking at the map we have, it might be where Ding Chang Sheng, Master Ding, is trapped.”
“Do you mean you want to act separately?” Jiang Zhiwei keenly recognized what she meant.
Qi Xia nodded. “The masters in the castle have all gone to the central hall. Since we have this shortcut, I want to give it a try to increase our possibility of winning.”
Jiang Zhiwei thought about how on their way here they only encountered some men in black who had ordinary Kungfu, so she told Qi Xia, “Be careful.”
“Of course.” Qi Xia held tightly onto her Water-shed Rapier and said to Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi, “Left three, right four. If you follow this order, you won’t trigger the poison gas.”
She randomly cut some rock crumbs from the wall and threw them over. As expected, nothing happened, so she stood on the tip of her toes and skimmed through with a beautiful posture. After opening a stone gate in the middle of the tunnel, she disappeared into the darkness.
“Let’s go save Master Cheng.” Jiang Zhiwei walked towards Meng Qi and was about to hold onto his collar again.
Meng Qi absolutely didn’t want to stay and get killed by some random men in black. However, he had an unsolved question in his mind and was too afraid to follow Jiang Zhiwei alone.
Thinking about the personality and style Jiang Zhiwei had displayed since they first met, Meng Qi decided to take the risk and asked, “Ms. Jiang, there is a question that I don’t know if I should ask you.”
“What question?” Jiang Zhiwei looked at Meng Qi with confusion.
Meng Qi gritted his teeth. “Ms. Jiang, the second time that we met men in black, why were you in a stalemate with two of them? According to the strength that you showed later, you should have easily taken care of them.”
This question had bothered Meng Qi for a long time.
“Huh?” Jiang Zhiwei’s expression changed dramatically.
Then she gave a serious but cute face. “Promise me first not to laugh.”
Rarely could he see Jiang Zhiwei behave like this, Meng Qi felt that most of his nervousness had disappeared. He swore and vowed that he wouldn’t laugh.
Jiang Zhiwei looked up at the stone ceiling, and her face was red. “That was the first time I killed someone. Seeing blood spurting from the enemy’s body and his body falling to the ground, I was a little scared…”
Meng Qi nearly laughed out loud. Such a simple reason! He was overthinking.
Seeing that Meng Qi worked hard not to laugh, Jiang Zhiwei gave a slight humph. “In our sect, we practice our bravery to kill living beings by killing chickens. I have never killed a human being before.”
“Ugh, Ms. Jiang, how many chickens have you killed?” Meng Qi shifted the topic.
Jiang Zhiwei thought about it and answered, “It has been two years since I have accomplished my sword studies. Since then, I have killed two chickens every day, and sometimes there are pigs, cows, and sheep too.”
An idea flashed through Meng Qi’s mind. He said “seriously”, “Ms. Jiang, I have come up with a nickname for you to use after you become famous.”
“What is it?” Jiang Zhiwei asked curiously.
Meng Qi answered in a solemn tone, “the Chicken-slaying Sword God.”
Jiang Zhiwei burst out into laughter. “Hey, I didn’t know that a little monk like you is also a sly little fellow. Also, you should call me Benefactor Jiang! Be careful or Buddha might punish you!”
She laughed like a blooming flower but quickly became calm again. Holding onto Meng Qi’s collar, she ran through the tunnel. Thanks to the chat that they had just had, they had become much closer.
Qi Xia was truly skilled at traps and trickery. On their way, not a single accident occurred, and Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi successfully arrived at the stone gate.
“This stone gate can’t be opened from the inside…” After examining for a while, Jiang Zhiwei hinted Meng Qi to hide behind her, as hidden arrows might fly out from behind the gate.
The stone gate opened slowly with heavy noises. Nothing happened.
“Who are you, my friend?” A surprised voice arose in the room.
Jiang Zhiwei examined their surroundings to make sure that there wasn’t an ambush. Then she walked into the stone room while Meng Qi guarded the gate for her.
In the middle of the room, a middle-aged man who wore plain, blue clothes said with astonishment, “I am Cheng Yong. Thank you for saving me. May I ask which sect are you from?”
He had perfect knowledge about all the famous people in Jianghu, yet he had never met this beautiful girl before.
“Master Cheng, we are from a hidden sect. Because Master Ma invited our teacher, we came here to help you defeat the evil and restore justice.” Jiang Zhiwei made up a random lie.
Hearing the name Master Ma, Cheng Yong slightly nodded and walked towards Jiang Zhiwei. “I haven’t asked for your name yet, miss.”
“I am Jiang Zhiwei.” As a disciple of a large Kungfu sect, Jiang Zhiwei always remembered to be polite.
Cheng Yong walked near Jiang Zhiwei and smiled. “Heroes are always the youngsters. Well, let’s go and save the others, too. Um, who is this?”
Jiang Zhiwei answered, “His Buddhist name is Zhen Ding.”
Suddenly, Meng Qi saw a layer of green mist covering up Cheng Yong’s eyes. He immediately noticed that something was wrong.
At the same time, Jiang Zhiwei had the same feeling too. Concentrating strength in her feet, she rapidly retreated away from Cheng Yong.
Cheng Yong’s left hand was as agile as a fish in the water. As fast as lightning, he attacked Jiang Zhiwei’s lower abdomen.
“Mind-reaving Pill…” Meng Qi didn’t know why this term popped into his mind.
It took Jiang Zhiwei some time to react, and her movement was slower than Cheng Yong’s left hand. At this moment, the only thing she could do was to minimize the damage by using genuine Qi as protection.
Nevertheless, Jiang Zhiwei’s eyes showed an unwavering determination. She pushed out her sword. Instead of avoiding Cheng Yong’s attack, she had decided to give all she had!
Bang! With blood gushing from her mouth, Jiang Zhiwei was knocked into the air, and she crashed into the stone gate. On the other hand, her long sword stabbed deeply into Cheng Yong’s chest, and blood burst out.
Cheng Yong immediately pointed on a few acupuncture points on his chest to stop the outflow of blood. Then, as if he had turned into a beast, he completely ignored his serious wound and jumped towards Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi.
Jiang Zhiwei’s attack had caused Cheng Yong’s palm to lose most of its strength, so, fortunately, she wasn’t severely injured. However, the lower abdomen was the weak point of Dantian [1] and also connected to the lower body. Therefore, at the moment, she wasn’t able to exert any strength, and her legs were paralyzed.
“Little monk,” she called Meng Qi, hoping that he could overcome his fear and fight. With his left chest being stabbed, Cheng Yong was definitely not in a good state. If Meng Qi could stop him for a few seconds, he might just die automatically.
Seeing that Cheng Yong jumped at him like a devil, whose whole body was soaked in blood and whose eyes emitted a malicious green glow, Meng Qi felt that everything was a nightmare. His legs couldn’t stop trembling.
However, Jiang Zhiwei’s voice brought him back to reality. Recalling Yan Wujiang’s death, the fights and kills that he had experienced, and the happiness he had harvested through practicing Kungfu, Meng Qi felt courage filling up his body. Even though he still couldn’t stop trembling, he gritted his teeth and wielded his blade.
At a time like this, a blade is truly easier to use than a sword!