121 The Tracking (1/2)

Gu Shenwei raised his saber, and chopped off one head.

The chaos expected did not come. It was quiet in the three mud huts, like there was no more enemies.

The moonlight shone on six statue-like teenagers, who was in their spot motionless waiting for the counterattack after the silence.

The counterattack arrived unexpectedly. The oasis was like being taken out of a trance. The formerly immobile all became alive. People in the shadow all dashed through doors, windows, and rooftops.

Then the killing began.

Saber went, and figures dashed. They all attacked quickly, and stood three steps back afterward. He who fell did not make a sound as if he were mute.

The killing began in silence, and also ended quietly. The spell was cast again. They all again stood or squat motionless, as if they were a bunch of puppets. It was like they had been released by the master, after a brief and violent performance.

In total, there were eight bodies. The teenagers triumphed, without anyone hurt.

Because in a killing, someone had to take the advantage, thus it was usually much easier than a duel. People in the mud huts couldn't even show off their kung fu before they died.

The last step was to check if there was anyone alive, hiding.

Three teenagers went respectively into three rooms, except Liuhua. Gu Shenwei was responsible for the middle room. As soon as he went in, he saw a people standing in between. Hence he dashed to attack, however, he fell under the floor.

Unexpected assassinations were easy to conduct, but similarly, unexpected traps were equally hard to guard against.

Because of a sudden storm, six teenagers broke into the enemy's weak defense area. Before they raised their sabers to chop off heads, it hadn't been visited by others.

Gu Shenwei was the first victim of the underground trap.

He could not see what was going on in the room up there, because the trap door closed as he hit the ground.

It was pitch dark.

Suddenly a finger pierced at his chest like a steel stick. Gu Shenwei was cast to the wall, he then swiftly rolled over to the other side, in case of another possible follow-up strike.

”What?” Somebody in the dark cried in surprise. Thus Gu Shenwei thrust his saber in the direction of the sound, but missed it. The enemy was experienced too, so that he shifted his place after letting out sounds accidentally.

In the pitch dark underground, the two people were waiting for the opportunity to attack. Nobody dared to move, holding their breath, and knew that their life depended on it.

Gu Shenwei was in the unfavorable position, for he did not know the size and shape of the trap. Besides, he also did not know if there was another accomplice. Moreover, his Xuanji acupoint was filled with hot burning energy. He was on the brink of qigong deviation.

If he hadn't seen Mama Xue beheaded by a Black-masked Assassin, he would think that was her in the dark, with the fingers piercing at him.

He suddenly knew that the dark-robed women's back around, that they were all disciples of Barren Sect, like Mama Xue. Mama Xue's real name was Kang Wenmei, also known as ”Bone-piercing Ace”. He should have thought about that earlier.

Those black-robed women were weaker than her in kung fu, for they even wear steel thorns on their fingers. While the person in the chamber was equal to Mama Xue, she did not need the help of an instrument.

In fact, it was the ”Peripheral Force” Mama Xue planted in him that saved him. The force in the Xuanji acupoint would cause qigong deviation, but equally, it could neutralize the same Internal Strength.

Gu Shenwei didn't have the time to think. He held the saber as he placed his feet and left hand on the ground, like a crouching cat. It took him a long while to prepare.

Certainly it must have been a long while, because everything, even the time seemed to stagnate in the dark. He felt breathless in the chest, knowing that he held his breath too long.

The turtle breath technique required a lot of Internal Strength, which was Gu Shenwei's weak point. He couldn't compete with the invisible opponent in this aspect.

Once again, he turned to the words of Nameless Swordbook. So far, the swordbook had helped him survived many crises.

”Why open your eyes when it's all dark?”

So Gu Shenwei closed his eyes, trying to find the ”Qi” written in the swordbook. It was ”the energy flowing through all living things”, prevailing but insightful or unhearable, only to be sensed by the mind. He and Maid Lotus still failed to acquire the ”mysterious energy” after countless practices.

He was nearly dying. Just as he was about to give up, Gu Shenwei felt something extremely special in the chamber. Something that he could not describe, nor comprehend, suddenly struck.

Then, something fell down, and so did Gu Shenwei, his head blank. He was feeling like in a strange dream, where he saw his imminent death, and urged himself to breathe. But, he couldn't breathe, as if there was a giant rock on his chest.

Finally, Gu Shenwei inhaled, then he suddenly rose up. He breathed in and out, like a ferocious animal hungry for three days.

The first thing he did was try to remember the thing he felt just now, trying to find the door to ”Qi”, but failed.

All movements and methods in Nameless Swordbook could not be acquired through practice. They were only to be reached by killing people. Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus found out long ago that only by killing could they make progress. Otherwise, the practice would be meaningless.

Now that the enemy had died, Gu Shenwei could not retrieve the feeling. Thus, he could only wait for the next crisis.

It was the most difficult sword practice in the world. It only took one failure to get you killed.