Volume 7 Chapter 6 (2/2)
Zhao Zhi touched and grabbed for a while before her expression changed thoroughly as she exclaimed, “Heavens! You’re really not him!” Xiang Shaolong replied, “I may not be Xiang Shaolong, but please don’t shoot, otherwise it will be a lose-lose situation.” The 2 women were equally stunned and knew that something is not right.
Fast as lightning, Xiang Shaolong escaped from between the women and came to Zhao Zhi’s back, his hand pulling out the dagger at his waist smoothly and placed it across Zhao Zhi’s neck while his other hand was wrapped around her alluring waist, taking control of the situation.
That lady raised her strong bow, aiming at them but she dare not shoot.
Xiang Shaolong pulled Zhao Zhi along as he backed up to the wall before he steadied his nerves to weigh this female assassin whose swordsmanship and stratagems are both astounding.
She is a little shorter than Zhao Zhi, looks about 70-80% similar to her, but is more fair and delicate looking. Her eyes are sharp, with a hardness and viciousness that Zhao Zhi lacks. She is a little older, her body graceful and packed with power and now she looks like a female leopard that’s about to find someone to bite.
Xiang Shaolong asked with a smile, “How do I address this elder sister here?”
Zhao Zhi ignored the sharp knife pointed at her throat and cried out piteously, “Eldest Sister release the arrow quickly, otherwise not only won’t we be able to take revenge, living will become even worse than dying.”
Xiang Shaolong was relieved for he knows that Zhao Zhi really believe that he is that horse fanatic Dong Kuang so he hurriedly said, “We ca talk things over slowly. I can swear not to reveal your secret. I’m a man of my words and will never go back on my promises.”
The 2 of them can’t help but look at each other. Since this person is not Xiang Shaolong, there’s no reason for him to let them off. This is too illogical.
Xiang Shaolong did not give them a chance to speak. He first made a very deadly vow in Dong Kuang’s name before saying, “Elder sister, put down your bow and arrow and I’ll release your sister.”
The pretty female assassin replied resentfully, “Who is your Elder sister?” But her hands naturally loosened the hold on the strong bow, throwing the bow and arrow aside, so coolly that it seems a little irrational.
Xiang Shaolong was thinking that this beautiful tigress is quite straightforward so he kept the dagger that was placed on Zhao Zhi’s pretty neck.
Right at this time, he saw this woman give an eye signal to Zhao Zhi and knows that something is not right so he hurriedly move to the side and just happened to avoid Zhao Zhi’s elbow.
That lady let out a high pitched whistle and at the same time pulled out the long sword from her back and launched an attack towards him.
Xiang Shaolong was furious. He was kindhearted enough to make a deadly vow not to reveal their secret because he did not want to silence them but not only did they not appreciate it, they are trying to silence him in turn. Blood Wave came out of its sheath lightning fast.
There was a strange sound coming from the door and he turned his head around to take a glance and secretly cursed. It turned out to be a large yellow dog, running through the door in an alarming speed, revealing its white teeth, the nostrils flaring and a thunderous growl from deep within its throat, jumping towards him. He suddenly realized that her whistle earlier was to summon this ferocious dog to help her.
Luckily in the past, one of the modules he was trained in was how to deal with aggressive dogs and although he has never put it to the real test, he had trained and fought with the military dogs that were even more muscular than this yellow dog. He swept his sword across to block the coming stab from the other party, lowered his body and kicked sideways, aiming right at the lower jaw of the ferocious dog that was in midair jumping towards him.
The beast howled as it was kicked aside and tumbled to the ground, unable to get up for the time being.
Zhao Zhi managed to grab a sword from somewhere and coordinated her attack with her sister, one attacking from the left and the other from the front and for a moment swords were flashing everywhere.
Xiang Shaolong knows that this 2 ladies are formidable but he has long since familiarized himself with the 3 killer moves of the Mohist addendum so his swordplay is not as unskilled as in the past. Since the ferocious dog has not pounced again, he took the chance to dash to the side of the elder sister and using all his tactics, slashed his sword down from the top.
The elder sister was shocked. It turned out that Xiang Shaolong’s move was excellent and wondrous, for it can keep on changing in such a narrow space, making one totally clueless as to what is happening. She gritted her teeth and attacked the onslaught, not caring about the enemy’s sword at all as she aimed lightning fast towards Xiang Shaolong’s heart, absolutely having the intention of dying together.
Xiang Shaolong was secretly admiring her character and this is just what he wanted as well. He had crossed swords with her before and knows that the style of her swordplay is fast and ever changing and if someone unskilled fights with her, that person may be dead even before he gets to touch her sword. This is also a woman’s distinctive way of using the sword so that they need not match their strength against men who are stronger by nature.
He immediately changed his move and swept his sword across to block. ‘Clang!’ The sound reverberated sharply, the pretty assassin’s sword was blocked by Xiang Shaolong’s sword.
Since she wants to launch an attack against another attack, she will have to use all her might and there is no room for retreat and this instead gave Xiang Shaolong the chance to use all his strength to fight with her.
Besides Xiao Weimou and Teng Yi, Xiang Shaolong’s waist and arm strength can be considered unbeatable. Now matter how formidable she is, she is still a woman and restricted by her nature. As the swords struck at each other, the vibration caused her wrists to go numb and she retreated in astonishment.
Xiang Shaolong thought that he would be able to disarm her but who would have expected her to tolerate the effects, although barely. She gave a cold snort as she rolled towards the ground.
Zhao Zhi did not expect this horse fanatic to have such shocking swordsmanship and just as she was about to run up to help out, her retreating sister happened to knock into her and both of them tumbled back.
Right at this time that yellow dog came back again and was about to pounce on Xiang Shaolong. Zhao Zhi cried out in alarm, “Dahuang! No!”
By this time Xiang Shaolong is already holding the bow in his right hand and an arrow in his left hand, aiming towards the top agilely towards that Dahuang.
This dog is very smart and well trained by the 2 ladies. Once it saw the arrow pointing at itself, it gave a low moan and hid behind the 2 ladies.
Xiang Shaolong held the bow with his right hand and the sword with his left hand, pointing it at the 2 terrified ladies and asked with a smile, “What is elder sister’s name, so that I know how to address you.”
The 2 ladies were still feeling unsettled and cowered at the corner of the wall, not daring to move at all. In such a narrow space and short distance, it is ridiculous to think that one can fend off the light arrow shot by the strong bow.
The elder sister is very stubborn, her lips were drawn tight and she did not answer him. Instead it was Zhao Zhi who blurted out, “Her name is Tian Rou!”
Xiang Shaolong was surprised, “Shouldn’t her surname be Zhao?” Zhao Zhi realized that she has slipped up and her face turned pale.
Xiang Shaolong and that Tian Rou looked at each other. He thought that since her surname is Tian, maybe she is related to Tian Dan. Zhao Mu has all along been in cahoots with Tian Dan, otherwise he wouldn’t be in secret contact with Xiao Weimou. Once he though of this, he had a slight idea of what’s happening so he pretended to be furious as he stared widely and said, “I actually had the intention of letting both of you go, but a pity that your surname is Tian and I hate people with this surname. Now I can only abandon all thoughts of taking pity on beauties and send you back to where you came from before you were born. You should be grateful to me for giving you an easy death.”
Zhao Zhi looked at the bow and arrow he held in his hand and trembled, “Why do you hate those with the surname Tian so much.”
Tian Rou hissed angrily, “Zhizhi! Don’t talk to him, let him kill if he wants to!”
Xiang Shaolong was secretly feeling perplexed, could it be that there’s only these 2 sisters in this house. Otherwise with such a commotion going on, not a single person has appeared. And where has Zhao Zhi’s ‘father’ whom she live with hidden himself? Once he thought of this, he saw the ears of the yellow dog which Zhao Zhi was holding on to perk up as its eyes shot to attention. He secretly understood and shouted, “Don’t come in, otherwise I’ll shoot immediately.”
The 2 ladies were shocked. They did not expect that he’d actually detect their help who is stealthily nearing them soundlessly and suddenly a sense of weakness and helplessness welled up in them as they felt that there’s no way they can deal with this person.
Xiang Shaolong looked at Zhao Zhi and said, “Since you are already at death’s door, there’s no need for me to hide anything from you. The reason why I hate people with the surname Tian, is because one of them is called Tian Dan!”
The 2 ladies were momentarily stunned as they stared at him. Xiang Shaolong moved forward slowly, his arrow moving up and down so that the 2 ladies have no idea the targeted area he has chosen.
A very tempting thought occurred to him. He just have to shoot Tian Rou, then use his flying needles to deal with the person outside the door and Zhao Zhi. He is 100% sure that he can swiftly deal with all 3 of them and that will settle everything and there’ll be no need to trouble himself over them anymore.
A old sounding voice outside the door shouted, “Hero please have mercy, Tian Dan is also the enemy of my 2 Missies, we’re all on the same side.”
Tian Rou and Zhao Zhi cried out in unison, “Uncle Zheng!”
Xiang Shaolong said with a frosty laugh, “How do I know if this is true? I deliberately told you this so that I can force myself to harden my heart and silence you. Otherwise if you leak this out, and Zhao Mu, who is in cahoots with Tian Dan, finds out, I’ll be dead. Or maybe you still do not know that Tian Dan will be coming to Handan within these few days and this is the only chance for me to take revenge. I will not allow anyone to thwart me.”
The 2 ladies were visibly moved, obviously they do not know that Tan Dan is coming to Zhao. Tian Rou’s eyes opened widely as she stared at him, “Aren’t you with Zhao Mu?”
Xiang Shaolong shouted, “Shut up! Who would be this conniving thief’s partner! I’m just pretending and gaining his trust so that I can deal with Tian Dan. Hai! I’ve never killed women, I’ll have no choice but to start tonight.”
That Uncle Zheng who was outside the door cried out in alarm, “Hero do not be rash, the death of my 2 Missies’ family were caused by Tian Dan and Zhao Mu. This is absolutely true, if there’s any deceit in this, then may I die without a burial place with thousands of arrows piercing my heart.”
Xiang Shaolong pretended to be deep in thought and said, “There’s no doubt that both of you has a deep enmity with Zhao Mu, but one of them is in Qi while the other is in Zhao, so how did they become your enemies?”
Zhao Zhi cannot control her tears as she cried piteously, “My family was harmed by Tian Dan and forced to escape to Handan but who would have expected that the conniving thief Zhao Mu would actually capture all 183 people in my clan and ordered men to send us back to Tian Dan, where they were all tortured to death by him. Would you believe if I say this?”
Tian Rou said angrily, “Don’t beg him.” Xiang Shaolong said with a smile, “Although there’s a ‘Rou’* in your name, you’re not gentle at all.”
(Note: Rou, meaning gentle)
Tian Rou was so furious that she couldn’t speak. Xiang Shaolong added, “Why are the 3 of you left then?”
Uncle Zheng’s voice drifted in, “The 2 Missies and I were late by a few days, that’s why we escaped the calamity. For the past 7 years, we’ve been constantly thinking of revenge, Hero, please believe us.”
Xiang Shaolong was relieved, and feeling a little guilty that he wanted to kill them earlier. Living in this warring era where lives are cheap, it’s really easy to become influenced.
Xiang Shaolong released the trigger and the arrow shot between the 2 ladies faces with a whoosh, into the wall.
The 2 ladies were dumbfounded; they did not expect him to shoot at this moment. If the target is any one of them, they certainly won’t be able to avoid it.
Xiang Shaolong threw the strong bow aside and kept his sword in the sheath as he said with a smile, “I am not interested in interfering in your matters, but I ask that you do not come and spoil my plans. Your real enemy is Tian Dan and not Zhao Mu and now that Zhao Mu is on the alert, to strike again would only be giving yourselves up for capture. Think about it! Such pretty girls like the both of you, if you fall into the hands of the evil, you will face a humiliation even worse than death. This is my advice, farewell!”
Under the amazed stare of the both of them, Xiang Shaolong strode towards the door and came face to face with that Uncle Zheng before leaving leisurely.