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Because the instant he raised his true qi, the yongquan acupoints on the sole of both feet left and right turned one hot one cold: the cold qi from his left yongquan acupoint burst straight toward the Du meridian on his back, via wei zhen, passed through ni wan, followed the Ren meridian and downed to his dantian. The hot qi from his right foot was flowing on the opposite direction; upstream the Ren meridian, passed through the zuqiao acupoint between the eyebrows, through niwan and down Du meridian, and entered the dantian from the weiban acupoint on his backbone.

The most amazing thing was that when the two different streams of hot qi met with each other at the niwan, immediately the two streams became a vortex: one along the other inverse, the two streams flowed swiftly in opposite direction within the meridians.

Every time the flow arrived at certain acupoint, the true qi unexpectedly coalesced and expanded just like a whirlpool, making each acupoint inside him become like a storehouse of true power.

His dantian thus became like the headquarter where his main force resided, while his thirty-six main acupoints became like the positions where his smaller squadrons were stationed.

This has never happened before.

Even during training with Kou Zhong, where the yin and the yang converged, it was merely yin hidden amidst the yang, and yang contained within the yin; unlike right now where the yongquan on his left foot was able to automatically absorb abundant innate yin qi from between the Heaven and the Earth.

The only explanation was that the fantastic power of the Jade Annulus of He Can has thoroughly transformed his meridians, and not simply, as Ba Fenghan said, ‘enhanced’ it.

If formerly the meridians were like trickling water from a brook, currently it has become surging and rolling large river.

This kind of ‘shedding one’s mortal body and exchanging one’s bones’ feeling was truly hard to describe.

The sensitivity of all his senses was raised exponentially.

Any sound within a hundred zhang radius around him could not escape his hearing. Even his skin was sensitive to the changes in the air induced by Fu Zhen, Fu Yan, two men’s movement.

An enormous momentum emanated from the two men’s bodies. Its strength was not evenly distributed; rather, it followed the movements of their thoughts as they were constantly looking for any gap or weak point on Xu Ziling’s body that they could exploit; therefore, the intensity of the momentum was also constantly changing.

He had never experienced this kind of clear understanding of what is true and what is false of the opponent; it was just like a somewhat blind person who suddenly gained his eyesight back.

In that same instant, he also sensed another enemy was hiding somewhere behind the wall to his left, waiting for him to escape before carrying out a surprise attack.

His entire mind was crystal clear; nothing could escape his perception.

In this instant, he knew that Fu Zhen’s long-handle axe would be the first to attack, and then Fu Yan’s strange-looking beak sword would follow.

These two definitely had overbearing martial art skill; when they appeared just now, their aggressive momentum immediately enveloped him, so that he was unable to get away.

If it was before his meridians were transformed, they definitely had the strength to kill him, but now he had utmost confidence that if he wanted to escape, he would have no problem. The only question remained was how to deal with the third enemy’s sneak attack.

Thinking to this point, Fu Zhen and Fu Yan had already pressed on to within ten paces of him.

Qi power stormed in, murderous aura filled the air.

The two enemies roared at the same time.

The long-handle axe rose up to the air; it turned into a flash of lightning swiftly chopping down on his neck. A powerful, without equal, qi power had already split the air toward him.

Assuming a horse stance, Fu Yan’s beak sword, following a weird attacking path, struck from an approximately a zhang away. It appeared capable of attacking any part of him, in accordance with the variety of fantastical changes unique to unconventional weapon’s characteristic.

The Two-Malevolent of Changbai dared to stand in opposition to Wang Bo; they were indeed not ordinary men.

For a moment murderous aura filled the air.

These two brothers’ eyes shot cold rays as they hatefully stared at Xu Ziling. If it were someone else with comparably weak mental strength, merely their stare would be enough to turn his heart and guts cold, his fighting spirit gone.

Xu Ziling was well-aware that based on his current skill, which had advanced by leaps and bound, he could overcome one of them, but under normal circumstances, there was no way he could resist both of them at the same time, not to mention there was another martial art master lurking nearby, waiting for an opportunity to attack.

Any one of these two brothers from Fu family was top ranking martial art master who was able to stand on his own; otherwise, Shen Luoyan would not have trusted them to take care of him.

His brain traveling at the speed of light, Xu Ziling swiftly, beyond human understanding, flashed several times.

Fu Yan’s figure snapped immediately; his eyes shot a disbelieving expression, his momentum and confidence weakened somewhat.

Turned out with every flash, Xu Ziling was able to meet every single one of Fu Yan’s beak sword’s attacking paths.

The most shocking thing was that Xu Ziling seemed to have the foresight: he had just made the change, Xu Ziling already made a very subtle shift, so that his offense immediately lost its biggest threatening force. More astonishing yet, when Fu Yan altered his offense accordingly, Xu Ziling was one step ahead in staggering away a little. This situation happened several times in a row, so that Fu Yan was unable to do anything, the same helpless feeling when one tries to catch a loach, which keeps slipping out of his hands.

It was the very first time that Fu Yan ever experienced this kind of abnormal situation.

Before, at least half of his abilities lay in the special structure of his beak sword and the strange and crafty changes of its attack paths, something that was impossible for the opponent to defend effectively.

However, this time was different: before they even fought hand to hand, the opponent had already grasped the sword path. It has never happened before. Momentarily from being active he was forced to be passive, so that he was at a loss of how to proceed, hence his offensive slowed down.

In this battle of supremacy, the battle line was precisely this sliver of difference.

These past several decades, these two brothers from the Fu Clan had developed impeccable joint-strike technique. As soon as it was unleashed, there should be absolutely no flaw that could be exploited by the opponent.

As soon as the pressure disappeared, Xu Ziling’s momentum increased rapidly. Amidst the tranquil-without-any-ripple frame of mind, he flashed forward to meet Fu Zhen, with his finger pointing out.

The true qi within his body was like a broken dam. The spiraling stream of qi, which relied mainly on the ocean of qi to spin, circulated on the Ren and Du, two meridians one cycle first, before flowing toward the intersection of falun and kanli. By the time it reached the armpit, cold and hot separated. One followed yang yu, the other passed through yin yu, and converged at the palm of his hand, becoming vortices of cold and hot true power that flowed in parallel, each stream of qi power contained thirty-six flying-thallium[?] like vortex, shooting out from his middle finger.

In the meantime, Fu Zhen had also pulled back his qi; because of the sudden decrease in Fu Yan’s momentum, the front line was affected as well, so that they had no room to advance or to retreat.

But he was like riding a tiger where it was difficult to get off, he wanted to stop but was unable to do so, plus he wanted to take advantage of Xu Ziling’s power, which could not surpass his several decades of training. Therefore, he increased his speed instead to charge forward, with his long-handle axe swiftly chopped down. Relying on the heavy and sharp axe head, he wanted to suppress the opponent’s insignificant finger.

Were it a top-ranking martial art master of Wanwan’s caliber, by this time he would have attempted to drag the offensive back a little, to match Fu Yan’s heavy offensive move, hence although Xu Ziling could not be immediately defeated, he would have had a hard time in dealing with them. However, in term of intelligence Fu Zhen has always been known as inferior, therefore, this strategy was actually a big blunder.

When the fingertips were about to make contact with the axe blade, Xu Ziling swayed back in the direction of Fu Yan; his shenfa was as amazing as if it was made by heaven, so confident and at ease, yet also looked casual as if it was a random move.

The axe blade swept down about five cun away from the fingertips.

Immediately Fu Zhen’s soul flew away and scattered. But he was still an exceptional master; hastily altering the chopping motion into thrusting, he simply pulled back the axe and used the sharp pointy awl of his axe head to stab the opponent.

Xu Ziling laughed aloud, knowing that the force behind Fu Zhen’s blade has diminished, while the new force has not been generated yet. Touching the axe head with his fingertips, his true energy shot out like crazy.

‘Bang!’

Two streams of qi, one hot and one cold, flowed into Fu Zhen’s body along the axe under Xu Ziling’s control, separately toward the yang yu and yin yu, two meridians. Like a string of pearls vortices of qi burst in one after another, Fu Zhen immediately suffered major loss.

Another mistake he made that he had already heard about Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong’s unique skill of spiraling energy, and had already drafted a plan on how to deal with it, but he had never expected that the opponent was able to generate two separate streams of qi, cold and hot, in the form of swirling energy balls, which also able to penetrate the true qi protecting his body.

The most formidable part was that the cold and hot, two energies were entirely different, as if two separate martial art masters were attacking him at the same time.

This moment he no longer had the time to think about injuring the enemy. Gathering the power in his entire body, he struggled hard to pull himself away and withdrew.

In his heart Xu Ziling cried out, ‘How formidable!’ When his ‘no stronghold one cannot overcome’ qi power entered Fu Zhen’s body, it immediately encountered a powerful resistance and unexpectedly it was reduced in half; otherwise, just this one finger would be enough to make Fu Zhen vomited blood and sustained internal injury.

The beak sword attack arrived.

[1] Fig. Surrounded by enemies, isolated and without help.

Chapter 5 - Part 2

Letting out a cold snort, Xu Ziling made a back flip. Not only to avoid the ruthless-without-equal sword attack, he also flew over Fu Yan’s head, and pressed both palms down.

Fu Zhen was still being carried away by his backward inertia. His face alternated between red and white, and temporarily was powerless to meet the attack.

Fu Yan’s momentum had already diminished, plus his power was half a notch below Fu Zhen. Seeing his older brother was beaten back by Xu Ziling using only one finger, his courage turned cold, and was secretly thinking about retreating. However, how could he retreat now? Thereupon he had no choice but to brandish his beak sword into a thin disk of sword shadow, while bending down his knees to guard against the attack from above, no longer trying to attack but only trying to protect himself.

Seeing that even in such a bad situation he was still able to maintain a leak-proof defense, Xu Ziling cried inwardly that he was very lucky. If his strategy had not been brilliant, which prevented the two brothers from forming a siege against him, quite possibly this day next year would be the anniversary of his death. Therefore, he did not dare to tarry either.

One palm struck down on the ground, the other palm turned into finger jab, the tip of his finger pushed the blade of the sword. Borrowing the reaction force, Xu Ziling soared vertically into the air.

Suddenly a spear flashed by from the sky.

After taking a quick glance, Xu Ziling nearly abandoned his plan to stay and stake his life, because the attacker was precisely his archenemy, Wang Bodang.

Were it not for his brutality against Susu, there was great possibility that Susu would not have married Xiang Yushan, and her life’s happiness would not have been in such a predicament.

This man definitely had excellent martial art skill. Upon applying his power, the pair of flexible spears in his hand became curved like a bow, plus when the spears sprang up again, the elastic force added the intensity of the attack that it was difficult to resist.

Furthermore, the timing and the angle of attack was so accurate without the slightest error, so that Xu Ziling, who was still soaring in the air, had no choice but to go all-out to deal with it.

However, it was not clear whether Xu Ziling had already anticipated this move, but his palm strike to the ground happened to be effective. Utilizing the backlash force, Xu Ziling traversed sideways and landed some distance away. With several leaps, he disappeared behind some roof tiles.

Wang Bodang landed on the alley; together with Fu Zhen, two brothers, they looked at each other helplessly, their eyes were filled with frustration and amazement.

Who would have guessed that with the three men’s combined power they still failed to hold him back?

※ ※ ※

Dong Shuni furiously said, “What’s the emergency that you frightened me? Do you want me to marry that lecherous old man Li?”

Kou Zhong was shaken inwardly, Xu Ziling guessed it right: in order to deal with the currently most powerful Li Mi, Li Yuan and Wang Shichong had stricken a political marriage deal. The ‘goods’ was precisely Luoyang beauty, Dong Shuni, whose fame spread out in all directions.

After taking care of the threat from the west, Wang Shichong would have a free hand in dealing with Li Mi, while the Li Clan would be just as happy to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.

All these were planned by Li Shimin; it’s just that he did not think that he would be the person Shi Feixuan would choose, and that in the future he would contend against Li Jiancheng for the throne.

Actually, what kind of person was Li Jiancheng? He has always been arrogant and headstrong, certainly he would not give up that easily.

If this news leaked out into Li Jiancheng’s ears, it would be difficult for Li Clan to maintain good faith and solidarity.

Too bad this brilliant scheme could not be put in practice, because Xu Ziling would absolutely not be happy if Kou Zhong ever employed this kind of dirty trick. Much less the news came from him.

Kou Zhong simply had to let nature take its course.

Paper cannot wrap fire, sooner of later Li Jiancheng would find out about this matter.

The city gate in sight, Dong Shuni pulled him to stop; probing Kou Zhong, she asked, “Have you found a way?”

Kou Zhong was awakened from his deep thinking, “This matter involves many complex issues; let’s talk about it tonight!” he replied perfunctorily.

How could Dong Shuni know what went through Kou Zhong’s head had nothing to do with eloping? She happily said, “Tonight, early xu hour [7-9pm], wait for me at Rong Fengxiang’s mansion house’s back door. I will try to sneak out. Don’t leave without me!”

Astonished, Kou Zhong asked, “Who in the world is Rong Fengxiang? Where does he live? What are you doing there tonight?”

Dong Shuni snappily replied, “Such a famous person like Rong Fengxiang you don’t know, yet you dared to hang around Luoyang? In Luoyang, he has both money and power, Da Jiufu [first maternal uncle] is even jealous of him to some degree. Here, eight out of ten casinos belong to him. His daughter, Rong Jiaojiao, is in good term with me, we are known as ‘Luoyang’s Two Beauties’. Today is the auspicious day for his fiftieth birthday; therefore, he is holding a feast at his house. Do you understand?”

Kou Zhong said with a laugh, “Since he is a Jianghu celebrity, of course I know how to find his house. But when you slip out and do not see me, it would be best if you find a second man to elope with you, because I might have been beaten to dead by a bunch of vicious nuns and monks!”

Unwilling to be bothered by her any longer, fast as lightning he slipped away, leaving the furious Dong Shuni stomping her feet, yet was unable to do anything to hold him down.

※ ※ ※

The crumpled paper was crushed into pieces by the internal energy, and the breeze scattered it into the Luo River.

Under the sunlight, the water of Luo River glittered brightly, while continuous stream of passenger ships and cargo boats came and went.

Xu Ziling sat on the dike of the Luo River, basking in the sun. He was completely relaxed, putting the trouble of the Jade Annulus of He Clan totally out of his mind.

He was well aware that after going through the bizarre encounter the previous night, he had made a very important breakthrough in his pursuit of martial art excellence. Otherwise, he would not be here enjoying the sunshine and the tranquility of the enchanting scenery of the busy downtown area.

Some distance away to his left, the flow of pedestrians and carriage on Tianjin Bridge spanning the Lou River had been steadily increasing, but it seemed to be in another dimension that had nothing to do with him.

Right this moment, someone was coming behind him.

Without needing to turn around to look, Xu Ziling knew that it was Li Jing; he sighed inwardly.

Li Jing came over and sat down beside him. Fixing his gaze at the Luo River, he sighed and said, “Just hand me that thing!”

Xu Ziling replied indifferently, “Since when did you become Shi Feixuan’s spokesperson?”

Li Jing said bitterly, “I know that you are mad at me because of Su Mei. But I have always regarded her as my good Meizi, I had never had man-woman feeling toward her. Just like you and Kou Zhong are my good Xiongdi; therefore, now I have no choice but to advise you to return something to its rightful owner.”

With a cold laugh Xu Ziling said, “Whether anyone wants to do something or decides not to do a certain thing, it is very easy to find words of explanation and excuses. It’s just that in this kind of thing, it is difficult for outsiders to intervene. I just want to ask you one thing: did Li Shimin ever send Yang Xuyan to assassinate Xiang Yushan?”

Li Jing had never expected Xu Ziling would ask such question. After staring blankly for half a day, he responded, “This matter involves Qin Wang’s classified information. I, Li Jing, earn my salary from others, there are certain things that I am not at liberty to speak out.”

Actually, by saying that, he had indirectly admitted it.

Xu Ziling spoke heavily, “And now, did Li Shimin send you here to advise me to surrender something?”

Displeased, Li Jing said, “How could Qin Wang be that kind of person? Besides, he basically does not have any desire to obtain the Jade Annulus of He Clan. I just worry about you, and I just found out that you have the ability to turn into someone else, but I could only hide it in my heart, and do not dare to tell Qin Wang. You ought to understand that I am hard-pressed from left and right!”

Laughing aloud, Xu Ziling said, “Since we are not brothers anymore, you are free to do anything you want.”

Li Jing sighed and said, “I understand your feelings. Actually, it was also due to Su Mei’s matter that I am having a very bad misunderstanding with you guys. But public matter is public matter, personal matter is personal matter; the Jade Annulus of He Clan is something that you must not touch. Even if you obtained it, what good would it bring you? So much so that even if you gave it away, nobody would dare to accept it; why bother then?”

Toward Li Jing’s earnest and well-meaning advice, Xu Ziling only felt disdain; he coldly said, “If Li Shimin really does not have any interest to obtain the Jade Annulus of He Clan, and there is no more gratitude and grudges between us, won’t that mean we no longer have anything to talk about?”

Li Jing stood up suddenly. Her tiger-body stood erect, his eyes flickered with cold rays. Fixing his gaze on the layer upon layer of buildings on the opposite bank, he spoke in heavy voice, “Since Ziling is determined to be like this, I have nothing more to say. But no matter what, we all are brothers. I just want to say something, and I do hope you’d listen.”

Recalling the trials and tribulations they were going through together in the past, Xu Ziling was overcome with emotions. Smiling wryly, he said, “Please speak up!”

Li Jing said, “Currently, the land under the heavens is all split up and in pieces, disaster of war never ends; in the end, the victims are the common people. We are men with lofty aspirations; we must choose brilliant master to serve, so that the whole world will be reunited once again. And according to my many research, only Qin Wang is worthy to be such person; Shi Feixuan’s opinion is no different than mine. By saying this, I hope you understand what I mean? Virtuous cause of today, any personal feeling ought to be set aside.”

Chapter 5 - Part 3

Xu Ziling knew that Li Jing had seen through Kou Zhong’s ambition, not his, hence he was able to say all these things.

Shaking his head, he said with a sigh, “Who the real brilliant master is, I am afraid only time will tell. When all is said and done, this matter is as simple as contending over the world. If you are just beating around the bush on this topic, I would rather you don’t say anything. I, Xu Ziling, have no interest in serving anybody. This is called everybody has his own ambition.”

Li Jing laughed aloud; he even said several ‘Good!’ in a row, before calmly walked away.

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong hurriedly left the Imperial City to rejoin Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan.

This matter has taken surprising turn and has developed rather abruptly.

First of all, Liao Kong Dashi has been using his good friend Wang Bo to announce this matter publicly. This seemingly reckless move was actually a brilliant tactic after careful deliberations.

Perhaps Shi Feixuan was the mastermind behind it.

It was a clever scheme; it would turn whoever stole the Jade Annulus of He Clan into ‘lawless disciple’, and thus would become the public enemy of all major powers.

Secondly, it will unite all school and sects of the ‘White Way’, who had been admirers of the Ci Hang Jing Zhai, under a common goal.

As an outsider, it would be inappropriate for Shi Feixuan to be directly involved in the dispute of the mundane world; therefore, by having Wang Bo, who had announced that he withdrew from the race of becoming the Emperor, contacting various powers of the White Way, if she could retrieve the Jade Annulus of He Clan and then continued her selection process, the momentum would be even more explosive.

Of course she did not know that the Jade Annulus of He Clan had met its fate and was finished. And now, even if she had the three men fried and had their bones torn, she could not force the Jade Annulus of He Clan to appear.

Ah!

Thinking about it, he felt it was very funny.

When he was about to turn into the main street, a figure ahead of him flashed by and blocked his path.

Kou Zhong focused his attention to look.

Turned out it was a scholar who looked like a clerk. Twirling the moustache above his lips, he nodded and smiled at Kou Zhong. This person’s sparse moustache matched his morbid countenance; only it looked grossly disproportionate, making him looked frivolous, but also a bit deliberately mystifying.

His eyes even had yellowish tinge; very unattractive. His belly swollen, a sign of his indulgence of wine and women.

Yet Kou Zhong was certain that the opposite party was a first class martial art master, or at least close to Bian Bufu’s caliber.

It was purely an intuition when martial art masters encountered one another; there was absolutely no supporting evidence.

When Kou Zhong was inwardly scolding himself, ‘Do not judge a person by appearances’, this sickly-looking middle-aged man saluted and said, “Zaixia the ‘Sick Scholar’ Jing Zhaoning, a guest of the Zhi Shilang Mansion, receiving Zhi Shilang’s order to invite Kou Gongzi to Zhi Shilang’s boat for a chat.” [Translator’s note: not sure if it was a name or a title, ‘Shi Lang’ literally means ‘noble minister’.]

Astonished, Kou Zhong asked, “How do you know that I am Kou Gongzi? This is the first time we met, is it not?”

Jing Zhaoning laughed aloud and said, “Such a talented person like you, Kou Gongzi, is not necessarily one in ten thousand; as long as someone gives me direction, how could I not recognize you? Kou Gongzi must be joking!”

Kou Zhong sighed dejectedly and said, “It must be because of the Jade Annulus of He Clan. I don’t know what ill luck I encountered today, but no matter where I go, I always have this ‘black pot on my back’! But right now I have some urgent work to do, plus I do not wish to deliver a lamb into a tiger’s den, so after I figure out a few problems, I am going to pay a visit to Wang Gong. How about that?”

Frowning, Jing Zhaoning said, “Gongzi really puts me in a tight spot. If I fail to invite Kou Gongzi, when I go back, how am I going to explain it to Zhi Shilang?”

Kou Zhong was fired up; he said, “Right now I am already on edge that my brain is smoking; if I had to take care of how you are going to explain to others, aren’t you forcing me to my death?”

Jing Shaoning burst out laughing and said, “Kou Xiong please do not take offence, I just wanted Kou Xiong to see Zhi Shilang, or let Zhi Shilang come to see Kou Xiong. Whatever problem you have, you may discuss it with him face to face. As long as the two of you are candid with each other and adhere by Jianghu rules, what is there worth to be worried over, or cannot be solved?”

Seeing he did not get angry, and his words contained ‘hard within soft’, on the surface he remained polite and maintained etiquette, yet inside hidden sharpness like a knife blade, Kou Zhong cried, ‘How formidable!’ inwardly. He laughed calmly and said, “Based on Wang Gong’s prestige, it is only proper that this Xiaozi pay a visit to him. But since Jing Xiong mentioned Wulin rules, you also ought to know that without any reliable evidence, you can’t adamantly point finger saying that the Jade Annulus of He Clan is in Xiaodi’s possession.”

Jing Zhaoning laughed aloud and said, “Kou Xiong is indeed very interesting and is an outspoken person. But I, Jing Zhaoning, am not someone who goes round the curves and skirts the corners; we do have more than two hundred witnesses. As long as the three of you appear together, there will be someone who can tell the truth from the lies. Buddhism does not do deceit, you ought to be able to trust Jing Nian Chanyuan’s Dashi [great master, generic term to refer to Buddhist monks]?”

Kou Zhong groaned inwardly, but on the surface he pretended to be greatly delighted. Laughing, he said, “Nothing can be better than that, ‘as the water recedes, the rocks will appear’, the truth will come to light. Before dusk today, the three of us will pay an official visit to Wang Gong; may I ask at which pier does Wang Gong’s boat cast its anchor?”

After receiving direction from Jing Zhaoning and crying inwardly calling out for his Niang, Kou Zhong walked away like a wisp of smoke.