779 Moonligh (1/2)

Nie Zeng walked towards Tie Linglong as she basked in the moonlight and greeted, ”Hello.”

Tie Linglong turned her head and glanced at him sideways, but didn't say anything, acting as if he were not welcome.

Since he knw that this little girl had always been rude, Nie Zeng ignored her cold attitude and replied that he meant to patrol the nearby areas. He didn't know why, but off of an impulse, he then said, ”It seems like something's bothering you. Did Shangguan Fei piss you off?”

”It's none of your business,” Tie Linglong coldly shot back. Her strident tone was beyond Nie Zeng's expectation as she followed it up by saying, ”So stay away from me.”

”Hmph.” The wisp of fondness for her in Nie Zeng was instantly snuffed out. He immediately turned around and was about to leave.

Tie Linglong felt a little guilty about her actions and yet she didn't want to apologize. Instead, she awkwardly said, ”Come back. I want to have another sabersmanship competition with you.”

”Sorry. I have no time for that.” This time, it was Nie Zeng who replied harshly, and he did so without turning his head around. Silence sounded out from behind him. After taking several steps forward, he did something involuntarily once again – he whipped out his saber and turned around to say, ”But it shouldn't take me too long to defeat you.”

”Ha.” Tie Linglong's pride had been challenged. She unsheathed her saber and looked around, before saying, ”We can't fight here. Let's find another spot.”

Tie Linglong led the way to the front yard and then abruptly leaped onto the roof. Nie Zeng followed her, and then he had an idea of his own. He whispered, ”Let's do it another way. We'll fight on the roof, but without being discovered by those security guards.”

Tie Linglong nodded. This mansion belonged to Lü Qiying. It had an normal exterior and lax security, with only two sabermen patrolling around at night. Those two sabermen didn't patrol frequently either, so it should be easy to stay out of sight. But the clashing noises of their sabers would still attract their attention.

This was a restricted kung fu competition and both sides were highly competitive. The first rule they had learned from their respective instructor was to strike ruthlessly, but now they couldn't parry with their sabers – they could only dodge and search for opportunities to make their own moves.

It was actually a competition between their lightness skills rather than their sabersmanship.

The origins of their lightness skills were the same – Golden Roc Castle and Waning Moon Hall. Tie Linglong had started practicing a little earlier than Nie Zeng, and so her body was lighter. On the other hand, Nie Zeng had worked very hard and his saber attacks were more ferocious. The two were well-matched. On the rooftop, in the dim moonlight, their fight became an entangled dance and their figures flitted around like that of ghosts.

Footsteps sounded out from down below, and the two stopped fighting simultaneously.

The security guards passed by, unaware of the rooftop duel. But before they went too far, the fierce fight resumed.

Tie Linglong's mood gradually imrpoved. Although she felt that her sabersmanship was far better than Nie Zeng's, she thought this was a pretty good fight, and she was enjoying herself very much. And it seemed that those inexplicable thoughts that had been bothering her earlier had been quickly severed by a saber.

However, her good feeling didn't last long. After the security guard sabermen passed by for the third time, those intrusive thoughts came back and slowed down her reaction time, and thus gave Nie Zeng the upper hand.

In her rush, she forgot about the rules of the kung fu competition and subconsciously parried with her saber. With a ringing sound, the narrow saber left her hand and was thrown off into the distance.

The two security guard sabermen yelled out, ”Who!” instantly, but no other sound rang out for quite a while, so they came up with the excuse that maybe a slate tile had fallen off of the roof and they continued patrolling, without even checking the rooftop.

Tie Linglong felt lost. Nie Zeng stared at her for a while before commenting, ”You think too much.”

”The Dragon King said the same thing,” Tie Linglong replied as she walked towards the backyard.

”Your saber?” Nie Zeng reminded her, surprised. For a killer, their weapon was half their life.

”I don't need it anymore.”

They returned to the backyard, but Shangguan Fei hadn't come out of Dragon King's room yet. Nie Zeng carefully patrol around outside, and when he came back he saw that Tie Linglong was standing in the middle of the courtyard like nothing had changed, except she seemed even more preoccupied.

Nie Zeng retrieved her saber and offered it over, saying, ”It was just a competition. It meant nothing.”

Tie Linglong smiled. Her green pupils reflected the moonlight like gems gleaming in the dark. ”You misunderstand. I gave up my saber because I want to concentrate on another kung fu.”

Nie Zeng held the saber, looking rather embarrassed.

However, Tie Linglong accepted her saber and sheathed it. ”I might as well keep it. As an ornament.”

”What kind of kung fu are you going to practice? It's even more powerful than your sabermanship?”

”Not right now. But it will be.” Tie Linglong stretched out two fingers of her right hand and drew a circle in the air. ”Besides, the Dragon King said that he's going to teach me some new moves and that they have nothing to do with Gold Roc Castle's sabersmanship.”

Admiration appeared on Nie Zeng's face as he said, ”The Dragon King's so good to you.”

”The Dragon King's so good to me…” Tie Linglong repeated, yet there was not much delight in her voice. ”I don't know whether he's good to be because he likes me or whether it's because of my grandfather.”

”Your grandfather?”

”Emm, my grandfather was also a killer in Golden Roc Castle, and he used to be the Dragon King's master. I bear my grandfather's surname.”

”Tie Hanfeng?”

”Eek, how did you know?”

Of course Nie Zeng knew. But he had never expected that these two people who bore the same surname would be family members, ”I thought… that… the Dragon King killed your grandfather. Yet you seem as if… you don't mind at all.”

Tie Linglong didn't notice the subtle changes in the look on Nie Zeng's face, as she straightforwardly replied, ”it's because I've never seen my grandfather and he didn't even know about my existence; it's because killers always get killed; it's because the Dragon King must have his own reasons; it's because the Dragon King saved my life.”

Tie Linglong had a series of reasons to harbor no grudges toward the Dragon King.

Nie Zeng was unable to do that as he incredulously asked, ”You don't feel anything for Tie Hanfeng at all?”

”I don't know. My mother talked about grandfather all the time, but she had also never seen him. I have a vague memory of him in my mind, but other than that, there's nothing.”