Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 14 Chapter 2 part3

Countless bizarre scenes, constantly flashing in his brain between the swellings and the shrinkings.

The sky full of stars, the vast emptiness, the fantastic realm that cannot be described with words.

The space and time expanded without boundary.

‘Wah!'

Xu Ziling vomited a mouthful of fresh blood. After his meridians were swelling and shrinking nobody knows how many times, he finally regained his clear-headedness.

The cold qi in his body has disappeared completely, replaced by an extremely strange sensation; the meridians in his whole body seemed to be basking in the warmth of the sun. It was unspeakably comfortable.

The cold qi from the Jade Annulus of He Clan seemed to stop pouring in into his body.

Xu Ziling was still unclear of what was going on; only his mind and spirit felt clear and bright, and there was an indescribable ecstasy welling up in his heart.

Turning around abruptly, he went out.

The space outside the door was packed full of monks.

Just outside the door, a bent Buddhist staff was lying on the ground. Seeing this, even Xu Ziling himself shivered inwardly. That was the representation of two violent, ferocious genuine forces clashing against each other.

On the stone steps outside the door, three Great Protector Vajra were supporting the big and tall monk with terrifying build. The latter's body was still trembling, with blood trickling down from the corner of his mouth, and a disbelief expression on his face.

Xu Ziling knew the monk was injured by the jolt; inwardly saying ‘I'm sorry', he wiped the blood on his lips, with the extraordinary treasure of thousand ages, the Jade Annulus of He Clan, in his left hand, he walked over to the landing at the top of the stone steps.

Stars dotted the sky like chess pieces on the board, the night breeze was blowing gently.

The Jade Annulus of He Clan radiated an indescribably glorious rays, the glittering of the treasure was overflowing.

Everybody, including the Four Great Protector Vajra, backed off.

Astonished, Xu Ziling looked at the treasured jade annulus resting in the palm of his hand, secretly wondering why he was now completely immune to the effect of the Jade Annulus of He Clan's peculiar power?

Suddenly he remembered that he was in disguise as a hunchback old man, but now it was too late to remedy it.

One of the Protector Vajra, an old monk around sixty years old with grizzled eyebrows, put his palms together and said, "Shizhu can withstand Bu Chi's full-power staff strike with your back, clearly your power is unrivaled; I wonder how should we address you?”

From his voice, Xu Ziling recognized him as the chief of the Four Great Protector Vajra, Monk Bu Chen. In his heart he was ashamed of the praise, but this moment he had no other choice. Altering his voice, he let out a howl of laughter while throwing his head back and said, "Where is Liao Kong? I was about to look for him to settle a debt.”

Bu Chi struggled to free himself from his companions' support; taking a step forward, he shouted, "What a scoundrel! Even if you handed over the treasure right now, don't ever think of leaving.”

Xu Ziling was playing the role of an arrogant and conceited old man, who considered everyone else beneath him. Naturally he had to continue to be believable; laughing aloud, he handed over the Jade Annulus of He Clan and said with a cold humph, "If you have the ability, come and get it!”

Bu Chi immediately frowned, while taking two steps back in succession.

Another tall and thin Protector Vajra put his palms together and said, "I wonder what gratitude and grudges does Shizhu have against our humble Temple's Chanzhu, that you came here to settle a debt with him?”

Xu Ziling had a sudden realization: he knew that they were afraid of the Jade Annulus of He Clan's terrifying energy radiation; that's why they were stalling for time, hoping that Liao Kong, who was meditating in his private chamber, would come promptly to handle this situation himself. Thinking that if he did not leave now, what was he waiting for?

With a big laugh he said, "That debt can be settled later! Right now I am terribly itching; who's going to play with me?”

His right hand grabbed the pomegranate wooden sword, his left hand held the Jade Annulus of He Clan, he dashed down the stone steps.

An enormous force, like an impenetrable wall, pressed down on Bu Chen, four men.

Bu Chen, who bore the brunt of the attack, brandished his staff, sweeping across him. Obviously he did not want Xu Ziling to get close to them. What he was afraid of naturally was not Xu Ziling, but the Jade Annulus of He Clan in his left hand.

Xu Ziling noticed that although the sweep looked simple and ordinary, within the sweep there were countless changes and follow-up moves, coupled with fantastic and mysterious footwork. It was indeed not easy to ward off.

The most formidable thing was that the sweep of the staff started slowly, but turning fast, with a powerful qi shrouding him so that he could not get away.

At the same time, he also felt the Jade Annulus of He Clan's ‘extraordinary power' was diminishing. If he ever got himself entangled by these monks' terrifying formation, the final outcome would be he had to fight with all his might and perish here.

Other than Bu Chi, who kept out of the way due to his injury, the short and stout Bu Ju [no fear] and the tall and thin Bu Tan brandished their staffs simultaneously.

Xu Ziling was well aware that if he did not take the advantage to escape while he was not under siege yet, he might never get a chance to flee.

A wild roar.

The pomegranate wooden sword sliced through; it heavily attacked Bu Chen's sweeping Buddhist staff. His left hand, carrying the Jade Annulus of He Clan, made a circle in the air.

The three monks' attack suddenly halted.

‘Bang!'

Qi forces collided.

Xu Ziling cried inwardly, ‘I am lucky!' Borrowing the reaction force, he flew up.

A few somersault later, he was already above the Copper Hall's roof, and to his surprise he found out that the entire Copper Hall was surrounded by staff-wielding monks, while the dozen or so monks hiding on the top of the Hall called out the name of Buddha in unison, waiting for the moment Xu Ziling landed on top of the Hall.

Shocked, Xu Ziling immediately raised a mouthful of qi.

A fantastic thing happened.

Previously, he had never tried to take a breath while flying in the air, but only used the residue of power within his body to continue, which naturally could not compare with the new power he generated when he started to soar.

But this moment was completely different.

The true qi within his body was like the breaking out mountain flash flood; it surpassed the previous one, as if the meridian itself was full of infinite power. This kind of feeling was like his entire body was able to circle in the air.

‘Hu!'

Xu Ziling made another somersault over the Copper Hall's roof, while at the same time he evaded Bu Ju and Bu Tan's, who were also flying in the air in hot pursuit, attacks.

By the time Bu Ju and Bu Tan landed on top of the Copper Hall, Xu Ziling was already approximately ten zhang away from the top of the Hall.

More than a dozen monks immediately raised their qi, as well as their voices, as they threw the Buddhist staffs in their hands toward him.

Certainly none of the Jing Nian Chanyuan's monks did not have superior martial art skill. These dozen or so Buddhist staffs were very accurate. But Xu Ziling was not the target; rather, the staffs were surrounding him, closing up any escape path he might take, so that the staffs became an inescapable net closing in on him.

The sound of qi splitting the air filled the space above the Copper Hall.

Yet Xu Ziling remained calm without the slightest hint of fear. He suddenly sank down.

This moment two Buddhist staffs shot out at the speed of lightning.

The toes on Xu Ziling's two feet pointed out, separately touching the head of the staffs.

‘Pow! Pow!' His direction changed. Like a lightning coming out of a clump of black cloud he flew horizontally over another big Hall. Under the helpless look of the monks surrounding the Copper Hall, he crossed over, and flew in the direction of the rear courtyard.

Chapter end