203 Cutting Snow II (1/2)

The monk could not wait to smash his staff into Cat Girl and turning her into mush and still wanted to scream that Buddha was benevolent. That was why Ning Que said that he did not seem to understand what being benevolent meant as he held the podao against the monk's neck.

The skin on the monk's neck trembled beneath the blade. He looked at Ning Que's clothing in surprise and said hoarsely, ”You're Tang?”

Ning Que nodded.

The monk forced himself to calm down. He looked to the other side of the blade and said, ”What you have done is called a sneak attack.”

Ning Que did not look at him, but at the snowflakes that landed on the blade and said, ”If you say so.”

The monk did not expect this answer and was stunned speechless. His shadowed face beneath the bamboo hat stiffened in anger. He said, ”Are you going to be unreasonable?”

Ning Que smiled at him. ”You weren't being reasonable either.”

The monk was speechless.

Ning Que looked at him and asked, ”How shall we end this?”

The monk's eyes brightened slightly. He said, ”I'm not satisfied. Let's have a go again.”

Cat Girl who was listening to the conversation from the side said sarcastically, ”Aren't you feeling ashamed? You were the one who made a sneak attack, but said that we crept up on you. Why should we fight you again?”

Ning Que seemed not to have heard her. He moved the podao away from the monk's throat. He moved back a distance away from the monk.

The monk looked at him silently before removing his bamboo hat with his right hand, revealing a bald head covered with green cloth as well alert eyes. He did not know who the young man who had suddenly appeared was and could not sense his state. There were only two possibilities. The young Tang lad was of a state way higher than his, or that he wasn't a cultivator.

Had he entered the Seethrough State at such a young age? The monk felt that the possibility of this was too small. Furthermore, Ning Que's impressive shooting and sword skills did not seem to be that of a cultivator. As such, he was pretty certain that he was an ordinary person. If this was so, how would he be able to defeat a cultivator like himself again?

The monk from Yuelun Kingdom looked at Ning Que and took a deep breath. His dark feet plunged into the ground and melted the snow around it. The prayer beads stuck to the tree by a single arrow shuddered violently before pulling lose. It flew straight at the monk who caught it with his right hand.

”Go ahead.”

The monk said to Ning Que with a heavy gaze which turned ferocious in a split second. His black prayer beads spun up in the air. His metal staff followed closely behind, smashing towards Ning Que with a lound crack.

Dried leaves, snow and mud flew as they splattered in the battle. The Qi of Heavena and Earth rang in dissonance as if it was about to explode.

Ning Que held on to the hilt of the podao with both hands. The hilt was wrapped with hemp ropes used to absorb sweat. As his fingers grazed over the familiar ropes, he stared at the oncoming staff and the floating prayer beads without flinching.

Just as the prayer beads rose to the highest of heights and almost disappearing from sight, he bent his knees slightly and leapt like a snow fox after its prey.

The distance between the two pulled closer. He flipped and the podao flicked upwards, hitting the prayer beads which were about to wrap itself around the blade.

This was followed by an ear-piercing screech of the two objects rubbing against each other. The sharp blade managed to stop the prayer beads from spinning. Ning Que turned his wrist, and flicked the prayer beads away with his podao.

The prayer beads soared into the air and disappeared within the snow. The monk's dark face turned pale as he realised that he couldn't locate his natal beads with his sense of perception. He had suffered an inperceptible injury.

Ning Que's first blow was successful and he wouldn't stop there. He stepped forward as the podao fell behind him naturally. He twisted and held the hilt tightly with both hands, bringing down the podao with his entire might.

The blade tore through the air and falling snowflakes.

And hit the metal staff that was about to hit his face.

There was a loud, thunder-like crash.

A soft tear.

A deeper cut appeared on the tattered robes. Fresh blood bloomed on the cotton.

He kicked the monk on his knee with his right leg and twisted his wrist. The slender podao flipped in the air and hit the monk's throat with force, forcing back the agonized scream that was about to be released.

The monk landed on one knee as blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth and the deep cut on his chest. He looked extremely scary and pitiful. In reality, Ning Que had controlled himself and the monk was in no danger of dying. However, he paled even further after sensing the cold prickling on the back of his neck.

Surprise, fear and confusion flashed through his eyes. He did not understand. Forgoing what had just happened, how did a seemingly normal person manage to get rid of his prayer beads and force himself into such a hopeless state?

In a matter of seconds, it was clear who the victor was. The young disciples of the Black Ink Garden of Yuelun Kingdom had to cover their mouths as they looked at the monk who kneeled pathetically in the blood soaked snow. They were not pitying the monk, but were surprised that the ordinary looking slender podao had managed to hit the prayer beads, tear through the monk's robes, his metal staff and the snow in a split second. It had even managed to land on the monk's throat. There was simply no chance of the monk making a second move.

What surprised them even more, and was something that they did not uderstand like the monk, was how the Tang lad's blade had managed to pick off the prayer beads.

This has nothing to do with his sword skills. Natal beads of cultivators of the Buddhism Sect were like the flying swords of the Sword Master. They were extremely fast and the naked eye would never be able to pick out it's trajectory. If one could not see them, they would not be able to predict where it would fly. Even the best sword skills in the world would not be able to pick it out and send it flying. However, this Tang lad just managed to do it.

It was reasonable that the flying arrow had managed to hit the prayer beads from outside the forest as Cat Girl was still fighting with the monk then. The prayer beads were entangled with the River Sword. However, how would they explain this?

Ning Que held the hilt with one hand and looked at the Yuelun monk kneeling beneath his blade. He shook his head and said, ”You were the one who insisted on the second match. You cannot blame me. We are all people walking on the Taoist path. Must we fight to the last man standing?”

This was the exact statment the Yuelun monk had told Zhuo Zhihua earlier when he injured her. The young girls from the Great River Kingdom were appeased when they heard him repeating the words to the monk.

The monk looked up at Ning Que and said hoarsely, ”I admit defeat. May I know what your name is, great one.”

Ning Que looked at him in satisfaction. The monk's eyes held only fear and confusion but not hate. However, he was not satisfied with the question, which seemed like it came from a Wuxia novel. He frowned slightly and said, ”Why would you want to know my name? Are you going to look for trouble with me in the future?”

”I do not dare.” The monk coughed twice and wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve. ”I want to ask my elders when I return. I cannot say that I was defeated by a nameless Tang.”

Ning Que was silent. He considered if he should report the name of his sect.