Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 10 Chapter 3 part1

Book 10 Chapter 3 - You Hoodwink Me, I Cheat You

Xu Ziling squatted by a brook. He washed his hands first, and then scooped the water with his hands and delightedly drank two mouthful of fresh water.

The refreshing creek water poured into his throat, greatly rejuvenating his mind and spirit, while not too far away the sound of killing and the hard battle was still heard, and on the other side the hoof beats sounded like a distant rumbling of a thunder. But in that instant everything seemed to be detached from him.

The three cuts on his arm, left shoulder and right leg still hurt a little bit, but the cuts were more or less healed; they no longer bled.

In his mind he still remembered vividly how under the enemy's heavy siege he killed a lot of the enemy leaders. And then using the divine escape he easily got out of the siege by hanging from tree to tree.

The thieves' forces were clearly more than several thousand strong, plus their martial art masters were as numerous as clouds, so that the Ranch's fighters who met the enemy head-on were repeatedly caught in bitter struggle.

Right now, the only way he could help the Flying Horse Ranch to get out of this disaster was to find the location of the Four Big Bandits' main force first, and then utilizing guerilla warfare he would kill their Commander-in-Chief. In this way he would completely frustrated enemy's morale and disrupt their troop disposition.

His mind made up, Xu Ziling shot the divine escape and leaped to the top of a towering old tree by the creek, to survey the battlefield situation.

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Chai Shao laughed coldly and said, "If Sire does not die, we will accompany you drinking hot tea and chatting!”

Reaching out to pull Li Xiuning's lily-white hand, he quickly withdrew.

Watching that, Kou Zhong's heart was burning with anger; he stood blankly on the spot, unaware that Li Gang and Dou Wei had also moved away.

"Release the arrows!” Chai Shao thundered.

Amidst the ‘swish, swish!' noise, the Li Clan's warriors on the eaves and in the garden pulled their bows and crossbows and shot arrows toward Kou Zhong.

Chai Shao also let go of Li Xiuning's hand. Fast as lightning, his two arm-protectors shot toward Kou Zhong, carrying with them an extremely swift and fierce power.

Even if he were able to, it would still be very difficult for Kou Zhong to block this well-coordinated salvo of arrows with the Moon in the Well in his hand, to say nothing of he still had to deal with Chai Shao's shooting arm-protector steel truncheons, which were suffused with powerful qi.

In that instant Kou Zhong regained his senses and soared straight up to the air just before the arrows penetrating his body. Li Xiuning cried out tenderly. The moment the arrows, darts and arm-protectors hit an empty space, her body followed her sword, tailing Kou Zhong to the air.

The sound of crossbows being reloaded echoed from all directions, indicating the second salvo of arrows was about to be launched.

Kou Zhong was unable to borrow more strength; he had nothing in the air he could use as a shield. At the same time he had to deal with Li Xiuning's attack from below, while a concentrated arrows might come any time. Even Ning Daoqi, Bi Xuan and martial art masters their caliber would be at a loss to know what to do.

Nevertheless Kou Zhong remained calm without any fear. The divine escape in his left hand shot like lightning toward the peak of an old tree on his left. Just before Li Xiuning's sword reached him, he changed direction sideways and disappeared into the distant darkness.

Watching this, Chai Shao and the others could only stare blankly, but nothing can be done.

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Raising his qi, Xu Ziling sped along, and stopped only after going over a hill.

Many different trees were growing thickly at the foot of the hill, with a small river flowing gently in the middle. Far ahead he saw the small village that he saw earlier from the top of the cliff.

Just now when he was surveying the battlefield situation, he found out that the main force of the thieves scattering in all directions were all centered on this small village. Feeling strange, he decided to come over to look.

Currently the small village was as quiet as a ghost town, he did not feel anything unusual at all. After a short contemplation, he decided to run down the slope of the hill. But as he almost reached the village, suddenly an alarm went off in his heart; a feeling similar to when he felt someone was watching him from a boat docking by Yangtze River outside the city of Baling. He could not help feeling surprised.

Could it be that someone was hiding inside the house over there?

From time to time the sound of battle was still resounding from all directions, reminding him that the battle was still raging, and it was growing in intensity.

After taking a deep breath, filled with great confidence, Xu Ziling walked over to the gate of the biggest and tallest house in the village. Reaching out, he knocked the door three times.

‘Creak!'

The wooden door opened to the inside, while a sword swiftly and fiercely stabbed onto his chest.

This sword strike was not simple at all. It looked like just one strike, but it actually contained endless attacking attribute and countless changes and follow-up moves. The most formidable aspect was that while the tip of the sword was vibrating and shaking, it sent out seven, eight sword qi in succession, ‘Chi! Chi!' continuously, enveloping all the vital acupoints around Xu Ziling's chest and abdomen with suffocating power.

Xu Ziling had a feeling like the one he had when he was confronting Yang Xuyan, plus because he was in the open while the enemy was hidden, temporarily his eyes were filled with dots of sword tip, and his breathing could not flow freely.

When it looked like he was about to be injured by the sword, Xu Ziling's slender hands suddenly shot up in front of his chest, his ten fingers opened up like a blooming flower, each finger carried a subtle change, and each moved gracefully beyond belief in different angle, to meet the sword tip in such a narrow space.

‘Ding! Ding! Dang! Dang!'

Amidst the continuous sweet sound like tinkling pearls on a jade tray, Xu Ziling neutralized the opponent's swift and fierce sword move while standing steadfastly, without moving a single step.

‘Bang!'

The door closed again. But Xu Ziling was able to see the sword wielder was none other than Shang Xiuxun wearing tight warrior outfit.

Although he felt strange on why Shang Xiuxun was not in the battlefield leading her troops but stayed here instead, but Xu Ziling was relieved because this beautiful Ranch Master was still safe and sound.

While he was about to raise his voice to call, thunderous sound of hoof beats came from both ends of the village. Xu Ziling's mind was churning at the speed of light; he flew back, leaped onto the roof of the building across the street, and lay prostrate motionless, calmly waiting for the upcoming change.

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Leaving the Green Ring Courtyard, Kou Zhong leaped onto the top of a bell tower. He felt like crying, both from grieving and bitterness of his heart, which were extremely unbearable.

Previously he thought that he could get over Li Xiuning easily, but when he saw Li Xiuning obediently let Chai Shao pulled her tender lily-white hand, Kou Zhong realized what important place she occupied in his heart. Since she already had Chai Shao protecting the flower, why would she bother minding him, an outsider?

A breeze came, rippling the pond water, distorting the image of what was at the bottom of the pond.

Kou Zhong sighed. He made up his mind to no longer pay attention to Li Xiuning, as he flew toward the Castle's wall. Apparently he decided to vent up his heartache and grievances on those hapless low-class bandits.

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The hoof beats stopped suddenly.

The two groups of riders stopped at the entrances to the village and jumped down their horses. Most of them spread out to guard the exits, while only about twenty people boldly entered the village.

From his high vantage point, Xu Ziling looked down and saw that other than four men wearing white bands on their heads holding torches high above their heads, the rest of the people all dressed differently. All carried the air of martial art masters. Apparently they were the leaders of the thieves.

The four men taking the lead looked even more distinct. Most likely they were the Four Big Bandits, who ran amuck the Yangtze River region, whose terrifying names spread out in all directions. Their age appeared to range between thirty and forty years.

Xu Ziling could not help shuddering in fear, while thinking inwardly that no wonder Shang Xiuxun was hiding in here. Because of intelligence failure, they thought the incoming enemy was only one team several thousand strong, while the fact was that the Four Big Bandits were going on an all-out attack, with the objective of seizing the Flying Horse Ranch in one move. The strange thing was that in this time of turmoil and chaos of war, how did the Four Big Bandits obtain such a great magical power and find out that Shang Xiuxun was hiding in here?

The bandits stopped in the middle of the village. One of the four leaders laughed aloud and said, "I am Xiang Batian; Jianghu friends who love to joke bestowed me the title ‘not even a blade of grass grows' as my nickname; all because they don't understand me at all. The fact is that I am a man who loves and cherishes flowers; if Shang Changzhu don't believe me, just try giving yourself to me for three days, I guarantee that you will be able to correct the notion of the gravely-mistaken people all over the world.”

The other thieves immediately roared in laughter; a laughter brimming with obscene overtone.

Xiang Batian's profile and outward appearance really made others did not dare to give a compliment. He was a fat man, short in stature. Not only his body was short, his limbs were also sort and stubby. He had a pot belly, and a flat, gourd-shaped head that looked like it grew out directly from his fat shoulders.

But his eyes, which were so narrow that he appeared to be eternally squinting, were gleaming with demonical, unusual blue flashes, so that people would know that not only he was an expert in internal martial art, the path he took was that of the heretical school of martial arts.

In his hands he was holding a pair of flickering silvery light steel rings with sharp teeth on the edges, strengthening the impression that he was a dangerous and mysterious person.

Nobody knew how many people had died under his ‘Soul-snatching Tooth Ring'.

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Chapter end