The Tale Never Ends Chapter 98

On the mountain were some houses made from rocks . I had no idea what purposes did they serve . Seeing that there was no road ahead of us, we got off the carriage . I told the other two to get their weapons ready and retrieved the spirit eagle . We then started climbing up the mountain .

The mountain was not high . On one side of it was an abandoned quarry . There weren't many trees and the weeds were short as well, the mountain seemed to be quite barren . It wasn't too steep to climb, and slowly we approached the fences surrounding the houses . They were all built on flat ground near the top, which was just a short distance ahead .

I fastened my pace and entered the yard within those fences . The yard was covered with weeds as well . At that moment, my sword started vibrating vigorously . I waved towards the back as a signal to start searching every room while not making any sound . There was no door nor window in all the rooms, only the skeleton of them built with rocks was maintained . The floor was made from stone . No one was spotted in any room . The eastmost room had a pile of firewood, and it seemed like someone rested there before! "So that Bai guy did rest here at night . Perhaps he's gone now?" I thought to myself, "It can't be! The spirit eagle was hovering around this area just now, how can there be no one here? He has to be somewhere nearby! We must stop searching actively now . We are unfamiliar with the surroundings and he can see everything that's happening, we are at a disadvantage!"

I brought others back to the yard and pulled out my sword, which was still vibrating . Apparently, it sensed the existence of the opponent . I was not a legitimate warrior of Jianghu, so I couldn't be bothered by the rules and ethics of one, and decided to make a surprise attack . As I silently recited the incantation, the sword dashed into the sky with a swoosh . After whirling for a short while, it dashed towards the back of the house with another swoosh! Immediately, someone let out an agonized cry! The three of us rushed to the backyard and found a middle-aged man who couldn't stop spitting blood . His one hand supported him against the stone wall, while the other gripped my sword . His chest had a hole pierced by my sword! His body was bent forward at an extreme angle as if he was going to wrap around my sword .

Gradually, his body emitted a burning smell . His limbs became extremely slim and his body size reduced all of a sudden, and he transformed into a hedgehog! "What the hell!" I thought to myself, "This skilled thief is actually a giant hedgehog!"

I took out my calabash gourd to retrieve his soul, then cited incantation to keep my sword . Chongxi asked, "That's a huge hedgehog, can we skin it for a barbeque?" I answered, "It depends! You can if you are patient enough . That means you have to pull out every single thorn on its skin with pliers . If you are thinking about skinning it with a knife, you better save that thought . Its thorns are imbedded in its flesh, and you could break its thorns if you aren't careful enough . Some said you can just cook it by wrapping it with clay and bake it though, just like cooking Beggar's Chicken, but I've never tried that method!" Hearing that, Chongxi shook his head regretfully .

Just as we were talking about how easily we took down Bai Chuanwei and how desperate he was before his death, a man's voice startled us . "You are truly obedient!" the man said . All of us turned in shock; none of us realized a man was standing behind us! He was dressed in a Taoist robe and holding a hossu . Judging from his appearance, he was only in his forties!

"What is obedient?" asked Chongxi offhandedly . The Taoist swung his hossu and replied with a chuckle, "Our younger brother Bai has failed too many times, causing our sect tremendous loss! Hence, our master commanded us to kill him by the rules of our sect . I don't want to kill him myself, so I guided you to him and had you killed him for me . Thanks so much!" Lin Feng asked angrily . "Who are you?" The Taoist made two dry coughs and answered, "I am Hong Tianhua, the second on rank among the Thirteen Apostles!"

I laughed upon his reply, and said, "Your older brother is just a bat, and now your younger brother is only a hedgehog! Maybe your sect is filled with such sly thieves? Is there anyone decent at all? What exactly are you then? Are you a mouse like some of your brothers? The legend has it that mice would become bats after having too much salt, then your elder brother must've had more salt than you!" The Taoist swung his hossu again, apparently not bothered by my words at all, and said, "Young people like you are only good with words . . . " Lin Feng swung his whip toward him before he could even finish his sentence, and that Taoist blocked with his hossu . "Clank!" Sparks burst around the two objects as both of them were taken aback!

Judging from its surface, the handle of that hossu seemed to be made of wood . However, it was made of steel and covered in the paint that resembled the color of the wood . It was even decorated with wood grain, thus Lin Feng didn't expect it to be steel! People always expect whips to be made of leather . When a flexible weapon has steel components, it would usually be a seven-section or thirteen-section whip, which has every section linked by a steel ring . Lin Feng's whip was covered in red cloth, and can be wrapped around his hand, so Hong Tianhua would expect it to be made of leather, instead of steel . When the two weapons clashed into each other, the red cloth covering the whip was ripped . Hence, the impact of two steel weapons resulted in sparks . Even Hong Tianhua was surprised by this revelation!

Hong Tianhua swung his hossu for multiple times and started fighting against Lin Feng . When it came to pure arm strength and skills in kung fu, Hong Tianhua was at a disadvantage . However, as he mumbled some spells, the hair on his hossu slowly stood on its end . He swung the hossu one more time, and an ear-piercing sound was made as the hossu cut through thin air . The hair on the hossu kept getting entangled with Lin Feng's whip . Luckily, the tip of his whip had the shape of a cone, so it could never be fully wrapped around by that hossu . When the two fought violently, it was as if countless butterflies were dancing around both of them! During the long fight, the red cloth on Lin Feng's whip was being ripped down bit by bit, just like red butterflies . Meanwhile, Hong Tianhua's hossu was getting thinner by the second, its hair was being pulled out again and again, and it almost looked like a bare rod .

Seeing that his hossu had become merely a rod, Hong Tianhua pointed it at Lin Feng furiously . Knowing that Lin Feng was in a dangerous situation, I shouted, "Brother Lin, watch out!" Lin Feng could sense the impending danger himself as well, yet he was too close to the Taoist to dodge his attack . The hossu just shot out a series of poisonous needles! Although Lin Feng's whip blocked most of the needles, one of them still managed to stick into his hand!

"What a treacherous man! We never expected his hossu to be able to shoot poisonous needles!" Luckily, Chongxi and I were further away from him and out of the shooting range of his hossu, so we were not hit!

Despite that Lin Feng couldn't grasp his whip with his hand, it was wrapped around his wrist! That Taoist reached out even more with his hossu after his first attack, it seemed that there was going to be a follow-up attack! Just as he reached out his hand, however, an iron pellet hit his hand, forcing his hand to shake and drop the hossu! That pellet was from Chongxi's slingshot! At that moment, Lin Feng jumped out of the hossu's shooting range . I quickly poured two pills out of my gourd, one for Lin Feng to swallow, and the other for him to melt it with his saliva and apply to his wound!

At the same time, Hong Tianhua took out his sword and a piece of spell paper . He placed the paper onto his sword, and the paper started burning while he recited some incantation . With the swinging of his sword, two streaks of black gas transformed into two grizzlies . "Aren't they the two grizzly brothers?" I thought and started reciting the Spell of Soul Retrieving as I pointed out the opening of my gourd toward them . The two spirit bears only moved slightly, yet were not absorbed into the gourd! "This sorcery is indeed tricky!" Since I couldn't retrieve the spirit bears, I decided to change my strategy, and released both spirit wolf and spirit eagle!

Six wolves surrounded the two grizzlies immediately as they saw them . The eagle hovered in the air to wait for the opportunity to attack . The situation had come to a stalemate!

"That Taoist needs to focus on controlling the grizzlies, and there's no way he could shift his focus elsewhere at this moment!" With this thought, I pulled out my sword and silently recited the incantation . Seeing my sword whirling in the sky, Hong Tianhua couldn't hide the sense of surprise in him . "The Sword Controlling Technique!" said him as he tried to stay away from my sword . However, his attempt was futile in front of my sword . It continued whirling for a few more rounds and dashed towards him in the form of a silver streak . Hong Tianhua was not bad, either . He managed to slash his sword along a curve, yet it was insufficient to block my attack . He was left with no choice but to dodge my sword in order to protect his vital organs . The attack ripped open many parts of his robe . He staggered and tried to maintain his balance . There was blood on his body!

Realizing that the situation was getting beyond his control, Hong Tianhua held his sword and reached inside his robe with his left hand . "He still has other instruments to use!" I got frustrated at the thought, because after using the Sword Controlling Technique twice consecutively, I had reached my limits! I was starting to feel dizzy, as if the world is being turned upside down and spinning in front of my eyes! At that moment, however, a streak of blue light zoomed at Hong Tianhua's heart! It was none other than Lin Feng's poisonous dart!

Chapter end