Chapter 57 (1/2)

Chao XiaoShu’s single sword became five.

Three swords made chi chi sounds as they evaded the copper bowl, shooting towards the ascetic monk’s body. The remaining two swords didn’t return back to protect his body, rather completely ignoring the robed swordsman’s blue ray short sword, they sharply tilted and stabbed right towards him!

Even if it was a battle of cultivators, this blue robed middle-aged man was meanwhile still concentrating on ChangAn JiangHu’s cold, fierce and very fiery meaning: If today you kill me, you’ll still die. I’ve been a cultivator in ChangAn’s underworld for many years, I don’t fear death or anything else. You that has cultivated for many years under the wing of famous mountains and big rivers, do you fear death?

The robed swordsman feared death – with his face slightly pale, he bet on this sword attack, one scattering, one striking, forcefully recalling the blue light short sword that was firmly flying out half way from the ground. In the instant of the most dangerous moment, it struck the two swords attacking towards his eyes. In this one movement it made his right hand slightly tremble; on the back of his white hand, blue veins could be seen.

Beside him that ascetic monk’s expression was heavily concentrated on those three swords attacking his body. Already it was too late to recall that heavy copper bowl to protect his body, only hearing him clumsily shouting a vague word, and throwing the prayer beads hanging between his thumb and forefinger hovering in the air, it whizzed as it rotated around his body in a whirl. The only thing visible was a flower of flames in four directions, instantly and unexpectedly, inside the trail of those three swords were collisions who knows how many times!

The sword’s shadow arrived and pierced air, and the copper bowl carrying water rose. The blue light short sword pierced straight through the mansion’s door, and the dull gray shadow became five swords. The blue light short sword fled like lightning backwards, and the prayer beads floating guarded it, each section containing terrifying danger. As long as there was a single mistake among these three powerful fighters, someone would die spraying blood.

In the world of the strong, the scale of time is fundamentally different. This seemed like a complicated, dangerous and long course of events, but in the real world it was only the utmost shortest instant. In fact the water spilling over from that copper bowl was still in mid-air transforming into splashes of gla.s.s tiles that hadn’t ever hit the floor, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with rainwater as it was still slowly knitted a rain curtain, and those elite Tang troops carrying crossbows had absolutely no reaction.

Sudden! Sudden! Suddenly sudden!

The Tang elite troops used the absolute shortest amount of time to make their reaction – quickly squeezing the trigger, tens of bolts carrying the powerful sound of wind-ripping force shot towards the mansion entrance. In this moment, those five swords were in the middle of battle with those two cultivators inside the rain-listening pavilion, and Chao XiaoShu completely had no ability to protect himself. Soon, he could only watch as those crossbow bolts shot him into a hedgehog.

And just in this moment, just as the bolts were fast about to arrive into the front of Chao XiaoShu’s body, one slice of a s.h.i.+ny, gleaming snow-bright blade shone in the courtyard, matchlessly bright compared to the layers upon layers of the rainy curtains, rolling all of that tight cl.u.s.ter of bolts into it!

Boots struck watery puddles on the ground in Chao Mansion’s main gate, like nails chiseling into the ground. With two hands firmly gripping onto the blade’s handle as resolute as steel, who knows when Ning Que circled around in front of Chao XiaoShu. The muscles of his wrist and forearm flexed tight at a speed difficult to imagine and relaxed, driving that snow-bright plain blade swiftly swiveling around upwards, changing into a silvery circular s.h.i.+eld, illuminating that old black mask on his face, and shaking those densely packed crossbow bolts flying.

Bang bang a slice of tinkling shattering sounds shown before the two people, and tens of crossbow bolts were firmly shaken flying away by the powerful blade at quick speeds angling in all directions, sticking above the sign board of Chao Mansion, closely followed with a flurry of thud thud sounds echoing out.

Tens of crossbow bolts unexpectedly fell like rapid rain, even if Ning Que’s blade techniques were even better, he had no way of being completely blocking. But in this moment his pupil shrank, his sight became keen to the max just like an eagle flying in the open sky of a prairie, making all the details of everything in front of him seem crisp and clear. His state of mind was also as calm as an eagle, relying on his senses to intercept the angles of firing crossbow bolts, he only waved his blade for those crossbow bolts that could injure himself and Chao XiaoShu, and not paying the least attention to those periphery bolts.

In this instant, from a young man who had gone through countless struggles of life and death, out emerged those frightfully perfectly polished sense of danger and judging ability. Those crossbow bolts that seemed especially dangerous brushed against his ear lobe, penetrating headlong through his robe fiercely, piercing a crack into that rain-soaked limestone tile, without causing any other harm.

“Attack!” The leader of the Tang elite troops sternly yelled.

Following the sound of this order, the Tang elite troops that fired one round of bolts split into two groups – one group quickly pulled the triggers and fired bolts, the other group of ten plus silently drew the steel blades at their waists and came charging head-on at Chao Mansion’s main gate.

Step! Step! Step! Step! A Tang elite troop’s two feet repeatedly tread onto the wet flowing ground, charging over as though tightly following after the last volley of bolts. The distance to the main gate was only a short distance apart – only hearing him howl once, his two hands wielding a blade leapt up high, hacking down towards the top of Ning Que’s head with irresistible force.

The two eyes showing from the black mask slightly lowered. Ning Que looked at the rainy ground in front of him, as though he didn’t see the ferocious, reckless strike just about to land. Only seeing his wrist flick, the blade’s edge became a white brightness, incomparably precisely hacking at the last two crossbow bolts, then…… the blade’s gleam suddenly stopped, disappearing unseen.

In the deep pitch black of the rainy night, hidden inside of the building there was light. When the blade was raised, the edge that shone from big movements became a bright surface, if it is desired for the blade’s s.h.i.+ne to disappear without a trace, then there was only one possibility – then the blade at the moment had to be in a state of stillness.