609 Cloud Shadow (2/2)

”You will always be one.”

Both sides fell silent, and then both sides made their move.

Chu Nanping's advantage was that he could wield dual swords alone while his disadvantage was that he hadn't broken through the fourth level. Ten moves later, the five of them had all landed in hot water.

Chu Nanping was trapped because the martial arts skills of the disciples of the Essence Pavilion all originated from the Essence of Perceiving Passion, which meant that all of them knew each other's moves well. His subtle and swift sword moves were nothing special in the other side's eyes.

Those four disciples of the Essence Pavilion were also trapped. They had seen with their own eyes that a man could actually wield two sets of swordsmanship more smoothly than that of the dual cultivators who held a tacit understanding between each other.

They were so intoxicated that they couldn't bear to bring down their opponent and only wanted to force Chu Nanping to continue showing it until they themselves figured it out too.

Chu Nanping suddenly changed his swordsmanship on the fifteenth move. He disappeared in a flash and stabbed out like lightning.

A one-armed man quickly retreated with blood oozing from his shoulder and his face gleaming with excitement. The individually-trained swordsmanship of the other side was more powerful than he had imagined.

In fact, what Chu Nanping used was a modified sword technique of the Death Sutra.

Gu Shenwei had chosen some key ideas and theory of the Death Sutra Swordsmanship and taught Chu Nanping, which was very helpful to him. It always had an amazing effect when he occasionally used it in his Emotionless Swordsmanship.

Each disciple of the Emotionless Swordsmanship had their own special skills. They had seen the Emotionless Swordsmanship before and were familiar with it but they had no deep understanding of it. So they naturally attributed this move to the martial arts of the Essence Pavilion when they suddenly saw a powerful sword technique.

”You can't keep it all to yourself,” said the wounded one-armed man.

”You and it both belong to the Essence Pavilion,” another one-armed man said while attacking with his short halberd.

Those two one-eyed men followed to say, ”You can be Immortal Peng. You should be Immortal Peng.”

The four of them were thinking the same. Since this young boy had surpassed all the disciples of the Essence Pavilion, he was fully qualified to be the new Immortal Peng.

Chu Nanping hesitated a bit. What tempted him was not fame and status but the familiarity of that way of life. One as all, and all as one. He wouldn't have to make his own decisions anymore.

Chu Nanping only hesitated for a moment of time before jumping to the nearby grass. He had tasted reality and could never return to that dreamland anymore.

The disciples of the Essence Pavilion did not hesitate at all. They followed closely like shadows, and even the circle formation surrounding Chu Nanping retained its shape.

The four men fell one by one as if they had lost control of their bodies. A blackbird-like assassin leaped from the grass and killed three people with three pecks. The fourth peck was blocked by the long sword.

”There's no need to kill him.” Chu Nanping said.

The 'Blackbird' crouching the ground suddenly turned around and stared at Chu Nanping.

It was a pair of green eyes he was familiar with, both stubborn and persistent, and also a pair of eyes he felt strange about, a bit mad and ferocious. ”Get out of the way.”

Tie Linglong used to be fond of ordering Chu Nanping to do this and that, mostly in jest, and sometimes in a coquettish manner. She had never acted like this as if it were a command that could not be disobeyed.

”Nice to see you again.” Chu Nanping didn't care and also didn't step aside.

Tie Linglong's eyes rolled and her face also relaxed a bit as if she had just recognized the teenager in front of her. But a moment later she became vicious again. ”I'll make you unhappy if you get in my way.”

”You won't,” Chu Nanping said while putting away his long sword.

In the blink of an eye, Tie Linglong had pressed her dagger against the young boy's chest. The two of them were so close that they could hear each other's heartbeat.

Chu Nanping didn't know why he smiled, but he smiled heartily. After a long time of waiting and boring chasing, he finally reached the end.

Tie Linglong put down the dagger together with her fierceness, revealing the chagrin Chu Nanping was most familiar with. ”It's all your fault for breaking my murderous heart.”

”This man may be useful to the Dragon King.”

”So what? I'm not his subordinate anymore. I'm a disciple of the Waning Moon Hall now.”

”That matters not. You're not fit to kill.”

Tie Linglong took his words as an insult and raised her dagger again, ”I can kill you and the Dragon King if I have to.”

”Why don't you use your old saber?” Chu Nanping did not seem to hear the threat and continued asking about what he wanted to know.

If she hadn't gotten used to the way Chu Nanping spoke, Tie Linglong would have thought that the other side was tricking her. She wanted to show indifference but couldn't help answering, ”I don't want to use the saber techniques taught by the Dragon King…”

A burst of strange laughter suddenly rang out behind Chu Nanping. It was the sole surviving one-eyed man lying on the ground. He had a few needles stuck in the soles of his feet, which prevented him from standing up. ”You don't like the Dragon King? Very good, he'll die soon in the palace and you'll never see him again.”

Tie Linglong's face paled right away, showing no trace of joy at all.