Anticipating the Enemy
"Take this!"
Ji Boying gave a cold shout, and a faint blue light seemed to emanate from the blade of his sword.
A fierce and sharp sword strike came slashing towards Qiu Qianren.
Qiu Qianren dodged with a leap.
Even the Iron Palm Technique, the most powerful Iron Palm Technique in the world, dared not clash head-on with Ji Boying's sharp longsword.
Both of them possessed exceptional Lightness Skill.
Qiu Qianren's feet were submerged beneath the surface of the lake water.
It's as if you're standing on a wooden stake, allowing you to walk on water and not sink.
They could walk freely on the waters of Taihu Lake.
But his Lightness Skill was astonishing, Ji Boying's skill was even higher.
Ji Boying lightly touched the lake surface with his toes, creating ripples. His toes touched the water, but his feet didn't get wet, and his body moved freely back and forth on the lake.
It was just like a dragonfly skimming the water.
"Dragonfly skimming the water" is just the name of an ordinary Lightness Skill in the martial arts world, similar to "Grass Skimmer".
Even among the many martial arts practitioners with such Lightness Skill, how could they truly achieve the feat of skimming the water or Grass Skimmer? They were merely trying to achieve that level by using their lightness and strength.
But Ji Boying used such Lightness Skill with ease.
Although a fierce battle was taking place on the lake and on the shore, many of the servants of the Guiyun Manor were quite astonished.
They all felt as if they had seen a ghost; there really were such profound skills in the martial arts world.
Watching Qiu Qianren and Ji Boying fight on the lake surface was easier for them than walking on this flat ground.
Ji Boying's sword transformed into beams of light, attacking Qiu Qianren in succession.
Qiu Qianren could only rely on his exquisite Iron Palm technique to entangle and contend with Ji Boying.
Avoiding the sword's edge, he attempted to attack from the side with his Iron Palm.
However, he repeatedly used his left and right hands to cover each other, combining feints and real attacks to unleash exquisite palm techniques, attempting to lure Ji Boying into slashing vertically with his longsword, so that he could strike the spine of the sword from the side.
Ji Boying always held back his strength, as if anticipating the enemy's moves. With a twist of his wrist and a horizontal swing of his longsword, it was as if Qiu Qianren was throwing his own bare hands into a trap, striking Ji Boying's sword blade.
If Qiu Qianren hadn't been a martial arts master who quickly changed his move, those two fleshy palms would probably have been sliced in two.
Judging by Ji Boying's longsword, it was just an ordinary iron sword, not a divine weapon. Even if Qiu Qianren had a pair of iron palms, he could break such an iron sword in two with a single Iron Palm strike.
But Ji Boying infused his internal energy, and his sword intent was full of vigor.
He seemed to be surrounded by purple aura, and the iron sword in his hand seemed to emit a blue light.
The chilling aura was palpable, and Qiu Qianren felt surrounded by danger, his hair standing on end. He dared not strike with his palm.
No matter how much he struggled, he felt that Ji Boying had seen through every move he made.
Qiu Qianren fought and ran, growing more and more frightened as the fight progressed, as if he had seen a ghost.
On a large scale, the Taihu Lake navy has gained an absolute advantage.
Even with the Snake Slaves from the Western Regions brought by Ouyang Feng driving venomous snakes to fight the enemy, it was difficult to reverse the Song army's decline.
Protected by Song soldiers and Snake Slaves, Ouyang Ke moved about with ease, dressed in white, occasionally knocking down someone whose martial arts were inferior to his.
Although it was of no use to the overall situation on the battlefield, he was only concerned with enjoying the thrill of crushing the weak.
On the other side, Ouyang Feng and Huang Yaoshi confronted each other.
Ouyang Feng's initial pleasant mood has now turned into one of extreme solemnity.
I never expected to encounter an enemy here, and the one rushing towards me was Huang Yaoshi.
However, encountering a formidable enemy like Huang Yaoshi actually made Ouyang Feng very happy.
After all, he had Qiu Qianren as an accomplice by his side.
If the two of them can kill Huang Yaoshi here, they will have one less enemy in the future Mount Hua Sword Conference.
Ouyang Feng unleashed a barrage of venomous snakes to force Huang Yaoshi to come out and fight him.
Qiu Qianren also caught up and provided support from behind.
Faced with the two men's combined attack, Huang Yaoshi refused to back down, but he still only used the Qimen Footwork to maneuver around them.
The three men leaped back and forth on the water's surface, separating at the slightest touch, with Huang Yaoshi never lingering in battle.
After only thirty rounds of fighting, Qiu Qianren and Ouyang Feng had already squeezed Huang Yaoshi's room to maneuver smaller and smaller.
The two were secretly delighted, seeing that they were about to defeat Huang Yaoshi, and even had the chance to kill him on the spot.
Suddenly, a swordsman in green robes flew across the lake, wielding an iron sword.
With a chilling sword intent, it instantly locked onto Qiu Qianren.
This forced Qiu Qianren to retreat rapidly.
This relieved Huang Yaoshi's predicament, and the two sides were divided into two battlefields.
Ouyang Feng initially thought that the young man who suddenly appeared was a swordsman. He believed that the swordsman's strength would be exhausted after the first attack, and that he would be more powerful because he had accumulated energy and spirit in the first attack. With Qiu Qianren, a martial arts master, entangled with him, it wouldn't take many moves to force the swordsman to lose his strength.
Once a swordsman loses his temper, he naturally has nothing to worry about anymore, especially considering how young this person is, probably more than ten years younger than Ouyang Ke. How much ability could he possibly have?
Seeing that his first sword strike forced Qiu Qianren to retreat and relieved Huang Yaoshi's siege was already astonishing, Ouyang Feng really couldn't imagine how much more powerful he could be.
But to Ouyang Feng's utter surprise, before he could even finish his standoff with Huang Yaoshi, Qiu Qianren was already in dire straits.
Huang Yaoshi was also furious after being surrounded and attacked, and now he unleashed a series of Empty Palm Strike strikes that forced Ouyang Feng to dodge repeatedly.
Ouyang Feng leaped back and forth on one small boat after another, and the boats were smashed into pieces by Huang Yaoshi's Empty Palm Strikes.
Ouyang Feng had initially planned to stall for time, waiting for Qiu Qianren to defeat the Green-Robed Swordsman in blue before launching a full-scale attack, but his plan had failed.
The longer it drags on, the worse the situation becomes for Ouyang Feng.
Ouyang Feng naturally stopped dodging.
He wielded his Snake Staff to forcefully deflect the Empty Palm Strike.
He jumped onto a small boat and landed there, lying down in the cabin.
Seeing this, Huang Yaoshi dared not be careless.
With his left foot touching the mast, he stood in mid-air, no longer chasing Ouyang Feng.
All you could see was Ouyang Feng squatting in the cabin, his arms bent at shoulder height, making croaking sounds like a frog, just like a frog squatting there, ready to pounce.
This is naturally Ouyang Feng's fundamental martial art, the Toad Style.
This skill is entirely based on stillness to control movement. The whole body stores energy and momentum, without releasing its power. It waits for the enemy to launch an attack before immediately launching a fierce counterattack.
This skill is truly formidable. Back when Wang Chongyang was on his deathbed, he used the Prenatal Skill in combination with the One Yang Finger Skill to specifically break Ouyang Feng's Toad Style.
Huang Yaoshi naturally dared not be presumptuous.
He squinted slightly, holding his breath and concentrating.
After a moment's thought, he suddenly unleashed an Empty Palm Strike with his right hand, deliberately making it look very strong, with a sharp sound as it cut through the air.
A barely perceptible movement also came from the sleeve of his left hand.
Faced with the incoming Empty Palm Strike, Ouyang Feng neither dodged nor avoided it. Instead, he lunged forward with tremendous force, directly slamming his head into the Empty Palm Strike.