HEAVEN SWORD DRAGON SABRE Book 2 of 2

A Gentleman Is Vulnerable To Deceit Part 5

"What do you mean a gentleman will not fight a woman? Don't you know Mrs. Song was about to become Zhang Jiaozhu's wife? It is called 'old ruler's affection is deep'!" [Translator's note: I know it sounds weird in English, but perhaps someone will explain this saying for us?]

"Pei! It is 'old sword's affection is deep', not 'old ruler's affection is deep'!"

"Don't you see those two iron rulers in Zhang Jiaozhu's hands?"

"After that, Mrs. Song did not have a heart to kill Zhang Jiaozhu with a vicious blow. Won't it be 'the old hand's affection is deep'?"

Meanwhile, the stances launched by the three monks and Zhang Wuji were getting slower; the changes were also getting more subtle.

Zhou Zhiruo's martial art skill grew at a fantastical rate; her victory over Wudang's Second Hero was the peak of her achievement. However, speaking about internal energy cultivation, compared to Yu Lianzhou and Yin Liting, she actually fell far behind. This moment, Zhang Wuji's battle with the three Shaolin monks had reached an all-out, real-skill stage; there was no leeway for a shortcut, no opening for Zhou Zhiruo to attack. Now and then her flexible whip would sweep and strike forward, but as soon as it bumped into the four people's internal energy, it would bounce back immediately.

Less than an hour later, the Jiu Yang Shen Gong inside Zhang Wuji's body flowed out rapidly. The Sheng Huo Ling in his hands created 'swish, swish, swish' noise. Originally, the three monks' countenances were different from each other, but at this time their faces were dark red, their Buddhist robes bubbled up as if they were blown by a strong gale. On the other hand, there were not any visible changes in Zhang Wuji's clothes. His superiority had been established by this fact alone. If he fought them one-on-one, or even one-on-two, he would have scored a victory early on.

Zhang Wuji's cultivation of Jiu Yang Zhen Qi was immeasurably deep to begin with. After receiving instructions from Zhang Sanfeng, he further developed his 'chi' with cultivation technique of Taijiquan. Right now, the longer he fought, the stronger he was. He would win an endurance race, since he could fight an all-out battle for one or two 'sichen' [1 sichen = 2 hours] more, waiting for the opponents to exhaust their own strength.

The three Shaolin also realized that a prolonged battle would be detrimental to their side. Suddenly they let out a high-pitched shout together. Three long whips rotated rapidly, the whips turned into blur shadows that it was difficult to see which one was real and which one was a mere shadow.

Zhang Wuji focused his gaze on the incoming whip; he blocked them one by one, while anxiety started to grow in his heart. "Although Zhiruo's martial art is marvelous, her days of training were, after all, not too many. Our joint power cannot be compared to [maternal] grandfather and Yang Zuo Zhi. I can't do it based on my strength alone. It looks like we are going to be defeated again today. If I can't save Yifu this time, what do I do?" As his heart was anxious, his internal energy was somewhat reduced. The three monks seized this opportunity to press on; their attacks grew more dangerous, surrounding Zhang Wuji from all sides.

Suddenly, like a flash of lightning a thought came into Zhang Wuji's mind. He recalled Xie Xun's affection toward him when he was little on the Bing Huo [ice and fire] Island. He also remembered although Xie Xun was blind, he braved the danger by re-entering the Jianghu, all because of him. If he could not save him today, he definitely did not want to live alone.

He saw that Du Nan's long whip was threatening his back. Disregarding his own safety, his left hand reached up to let the whip strike his arm, but he dissipated the incoming force using the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi. The Sheng Huo Ling tablet in his right hand blocked the pair of whips of Du E and Du Jie. Like a giant bird he suddenly pounced to the left, but his body turned around midair and suddenly he grabbed Du Nan's long whip, and wound it once around the trunk of the green pine tree in which Du Nan was sitting.