17 The Secret Celestial Group (1/2)
Xiao Shuai said to Ding Yunzi, ”She is not here.”
Ding Yunzi asked, ”Could she be in that another location?”
Xiao Shuai said, ”No matter what, we must leave this town as soon as possible.”
Ding Yunzi asked, ”Master, you are injured?”
Xiao Shuai shook his head, ”But I have expended a great deal of my martial power. If there is another opponent like Gongsun Bai here, I cannot fight at my peak.”
Ding Yunzi said coolly, ”There shouldn't be anyone that can contest with Master. If she is not here, surely she could be in that another location? That is the most suspicious location after all. We should investigate it.”
Xiao Shuai said, ”I have a very uneasy feeling about that villa. I don't have that feeling for a very long time. Call it instinct if you want but sometimes we need to know our limits and be extra vigilant. That Gongsun Bai had thought that he was invincible and became careless. If he had been more wary, the final outcome would be hard to predict.”
Ding Yunzi said, ”Master, you are too caution. At your martial level, no one is your match anymore. Even without me, you can still defeat Gongsun Bai on your own.”
Xiao Shuai said, ”You are too young. Even an invincible fighter will have a moment of weakness and if the enemies have the heart to kill you, they will have already studied your weakness. That is why we mustn't reveal too much of our true skills to gain the best advantage in every situation.”
Ding Yunzi said, ”But there are only two young maidens in that villa. Surely, we have nothing to fear from them.”
Xiao Shuai said, ”Precisely that is why. There are too many unanswered questions about that villa. It is like they are enticing us to enter the villa.”
Ding Yunzi sighed, ”If I can be within three hundred paces of that villa, I may be able to know if Xiao Youxue is there…”
Xiao Shuai said solemnly, ”Five hundred paces is the safe distance. Anything closer than that, we risk exposing our whereabouts.”
All of a sudden, Xiao Shuai looked at the forested surroundings and sighed. ”Just as I feared, they are here.”
Ding Yunzi scanned the surroundings and immediately she said aloud, ”There!”
She immediately unsheathed her long sword, whirled it several times and threw it as a flying sword in front of her!
Her flying sword flew into the dark recess of the forest and there was a mighty jarring sound as her flying sword struck against something metallic.
Ding Yunzi had extended her fingers out and to her surprise; her flying sword did not rebound back. It had simply vanished.
Xiao Shuai looked intently at the direction that she had thrown her flying sword and said, ”They are still there and they are no ordinary opponents…”
Ding Yunzi immediately raised her scabbard in front of her in a defensive posture as she raised her fingers into the sword fingers stance. Even without a sword in her hands, she could still kill with her fingers and scabbard alone!
Two lookalike young maidens appeared from view out from the forest and walked very slowly towards them.
They were in black velvet silk dresses. Their black dresses were almost translucent and their faces were very white in contrast to their dressing. In their hands, they had brandished their long swords.
Xiao Shuai immediately brandished his long sword, whirled it in a circular motion and threw it towards them!
He said aloud, ”I will like to see how you can deflect my flying sword!”
His flying sword flew and burst with startling speed against them!
The two young maidens immediately raised their long swords in front of them and when the flying sword struck their swords with a mighty impact; it was mysterious seized by another circular force as it spins in a reverse direction before dropping to the ground!
The two young maidens had taken three steps back as they displayed the Divine Emerald Skill with their long swords as they finally deflected the mighty force of the flying sword!
Xiao Shuai muttered, ”These two young maidens have the martial power to withstand my flying sword directly?”
But even before they could steady their footing, Xiao Shuai and Ding Yunzi had immediately saw an opening as they filled their scabbard with their martial power and sent it flying towards the two young maidens at the same time!
The two young maidens gasped at the same time, ”Oh no…”
It was because their opponents had seized the opportunity to launch another attack at the same time even before they could steady themselves. They had never fought against opponents that would react with such astonishing speed!
But to the surprise of Xiao Shuai and Ding Yunzi, just when their scabbards were about to strike their targets, another young maiden had appeared in front of the beautiful twins and deflected their scabbards to the other direction with her sleeve!
This newcomer was very beautiful and had the grace of a goddess. It was as though she was not from this mortal realm. Even Xiao Shuai who prided himself on his willpower was somehow moved by her sight…
It was not her unearthly beauty that caused Xiao Shuai and Ding Yunzi to be taken aback but they were startled at how easy she had deflected their scabbards!
It was because their flying scabbard technique was also one of their martial clan most powerful secret techniques and was even more powerful than their flying sword technique!
Even though their flying scabbards were a straightforward attack, it was charged with their entire martial power and deflecting it was even harder than their flying swords. Much of their martial power was lost when the flying sword was spinning. But for their flying scabbards, the martial power retention rate was much higher and it was three times as fast!
Moreover they had thrown their flying scabbards at the same time. Deflecting one of their flying scabbards was difficult enough and moreover there were two…
And this young maiden from nowhere had simply deflected their flying scabbards with just her sleeve…
When Xiao Shuai had recovered from his initial surprise and looked at her face, he was even more startled even as Ding Yunzi analyzed coolly, ”They are using a secret technique that is similar to the Invincible Divine Force. No one can deflect our secret techniques with just their martial power alone and if I am not wrong, they are using the Emerald Divine Skill, the nemesis skill of all missile projectiles. And in this fraternity, only the Eternal Ice Palace knows this secret skill.”
Ding Yunzi had raised her right hand and moved her little finger slightly. As soon as Xiao Shuai nodded, she would attack again with another secret technique of the Virtuous Palace!
The newcomer was indeed Shui Yixian the Celestial Fairy. The two young maidens at her back were Shui Yujian the Jade Sword Fairy and Shui Meijian the Beautiful Sword Fairy.
The Celestial Fairy nodded slightly and said, ”Your analysis is correct. We are indeed from the Eternal Ice Palace. Only the Virtuous Palace is capable of using the Flying Sword Technique. It seems that this battle between the Eternal Ice Palace and the Virtuous Palace is inevitable.”
Ding Yunzi said coolly, ”If you think that we are weaponless and defenseless, you are making a great mistake…”
Shui Meijian interrupted coldly, ”Oh yes? The Penetrating Hands, the Penetrating Slash Technique, the Virtuous Divine Force, the Golden Impervious Skill…right, I am so afraid.”
Shui Yujian smiled. She knew that her sister was purposely provoking her opponent. She immediately took a deep breath as she amplified her senses with the Dual Inertness Intricacy, a skill that she had newly acquired.
Ding Yunzi turned pale as she asked, ”How did you know?”
Shui Yujian had immediately sensed that the heartbeat of this maiden had increased and she was nervous now. She blinked at Shui Meijian, hinting her of the information.
Xiao Shuai sighed deeply, ”It is because I am the one that leak it…”
Ding Yunzi was shocked as she asked, ”Master? You told the Eternal Ice Palace our secret techniques?”
The Celestial Fairy begun to look at Xiao Shuai closely, ”You are Brother Shuai?”
Xiao Shuai laughed and he began to tremble, ”Indeed I am. Sister Xian'Er, you have not really changed at all…I almost couldn't recognize you all these years. Or rather, you have become more and more beautiful. How long have it been now? Fifty years? I have never known that you are from the Eternal Ice Palace or else I would surely look for you there…”
The Celestial Fairy averted her eyes, ”I didn't know you are from the Virtuous Palace as well…”
Shui Yujian, Shui Meijian and Ding Yunzi were stunned that their protégé mistress and master had actually known each other!
Ding Yunzi was even more startled, ”This young maiden is actually the same age as my protégé master?! But she looks so young…” She began to look at Shui Meijian and Shui Yujian who looked equally young as well…
Xiao Shuai laughed bitterly, ”Fate plays a cruel joke on all of us. Where is Han Shaodong? Are you together with him now?”
The Celestial Fairy shifted uncomfortably as she said, ”The last time that I had seen him was also the last time that I had seen you.”
Xiao Shuai laughed, ”That is good news to me. You have left so suddenly that day…”
Ding Yunzi had never seen her protégé master laughed so merrily before.
Fifty years ago, a group of pugilists were all that were left from the aftermath of a bloody battle over a lost martial treasure trove. The survivors of that bloody aftermath were all above average pugilists. The reasons that they had survived were because they were not as greedy as the others or because they were smarter.
It was because the underground palace ruins that they had found had too many deadly traps and many had died.
Han Shaodong looked at the nine remaining pugilists; Xiao Shuai and Shui Yixian were among the group as well. He said in disbelief, ”We risk our lives for just one small flask and some copper coins?”
Xiao Shuai said, ”If you don't want that flask, you can give it to me. Maybe the pills in the flask are worth more than anyone of you think it is.”
Han Shaodong laughed and he tossed the flask to him, ”I will not have the courage to eat some unknown pills. They can be poison you know.”
Xiao Shuai laughed, ”Or miraculous pills you know.”
Shui Yixian smiled softly, ”So what are we going to do now? Continue the fight that some of us have left unfinished earlier?”
Xiao Shuai turned and looked at everyone, ”It is a coincidental that we have all survived until this point and yet at the same time, we are all reluctant to reveal our true identities. We may not be friends as we may come from over all the fraternity and even the names that we use may be faked. But let us introduce ourselves anyway. You can call me Brother Shuai, Shuai being handsome!”
Shui Yixian laughed softly as she covered her mouth with her hands, ”Hello Handsome!”
Xiao Shuai laughed, ”Beauty, now it is your turn to introduce yourself. I am sure everyone would like to know your name. I had seen you kicking the asses of so many pugilists during the past week. Everyone seems eager to know your name.”
Shui Yixian looked at everyone and she started to stammer, ”I…err…Yixian…no…you can call me Xian'Er.”
Everyone thought it was funny. It seemed like she was not an experienced liar and everyone secretly made a quick mental note to remember her real name.
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Han Shaodong said, ”I am just a nameless nobody in the fraternity. I am not from the orthodox clans or from the unorthodox clans. My name is Han Shaodong.”
Another young pugilist said, ”That is right. Today, no matter where we are from, we should be friends. Actually for us orthodox clans, it is quite disgraceful for others to know we are fighting over a fraternity treasure…”
Han Shaodong said, ”You just tell us that you are from the orthodox clan.”
The young pugilist was startled and he looked embarrassed.
Han Shaodong assured him, ”Don't worry. We will not force you to tell us your clan of origin. I am sure many of us here are also not using their clan skills too.”