Blood Battle

Rain poured down in torrents, as if the Milky Way hung upside down, waterfalls falling from the sky. It shut out the surroundings, setting off a quiet clamor, bringing a murky darkness that made it hard to see.

On just such a rainy night, White Feather Arrows pierced through layer upon layer of Water Curtain, as though they had come from the Nine Abysses. Their cold gleam shone upon the eye and pierced straight into the heart.

Xiao Zi hung in mid-air as though Riding Clouds and Driving Mist, with nothing beneath her to bear her weight. Facing the White Feather Arrows like soul-snatching evil ghosts, she could only stare wide-eyed in terror, utterly helpless.

Suddenly, in the midst of her despair, she felt her body grow heavy. Her entire body was shoved downward, narrowly avoiding the long arrow.

She looked back in astonishment. Through the heavy rain curtain and dim darkness, she vaguely saw a face of "solemn treasure-like countenance."

Flung away, Meng Qi found it difficult to adjust his posture. Gritting his teeth, he shoved Xiao Zi aside with his left hand, drew his Monastic Blade with his right, and raised it before him.

With a crisp clang, the arrow shooting straight for Meng Qi's throat was knocked aside by the Monastic Blade. But he had no way to deal with the other one. He could only sink his shoulder and draw in his belly, avoiding a vital spot.

Pfft. The long arrow struck Meng Qi's right shoulder, piercing through layers of thick cloth with tremendous force.

Fortunately, in this rainy night, it was not only Meng Qi and the others who found it hard to see and failed to notice the concealed Trip Rope across the road. The ambushers had the same problem, and most of their arrows went wide. Otherwise, even with Iron Cloth Shirt protecting him, Meng Qi could not have avoided so many vulnerable points.

Thud. Meng Qi hit the ground, then performed a Lazy Donkey Roll to evade the following rain of arrows. At the same time, he reached out with his left hand and pulled the arrow from his right shoulder.

Blood spurted out. Luckily, Meng Qi's Iron Cloth Shirt had reached minor accomplishment. The wound was not deep and did not hinder his blade work.

At this moment, figures rushed out from the pitch-black rain curtain, some wielding long sabers, others gripping heavy swords, surrounding Meng Qi, Qi Zhengyan, and the others.

The ambushers had also realized that the conditions were terrible, making ranged attacks difficult to land effectively.

Meng Qi sprang up with a Carp Leap and raised his blade against the enemy. Shadowy figures filled the area around him; he could not tell how many enemies there were at all. It felt as if an attack might suddenly come flying from the rain curtain at any moment.

In the darkness, every spot seemed to be containing an enemy!

A chaotic melee! Meng Qi gritted his teeth and moved forward in swift strides, actually taking the initiative to attack rather than trying to flee.

At this moment, one thought was incomparably clear in his inner heart: since he could not see where the enemy was, neither should they be able to see him!

Only by charging into their midst, making the situation even more chaotic, and bringing Eight Steps of Divine Travel and Iron Cloth Shirt into play could he survive!

If he fled, then with the effects of Eight Steps of Divine Travel, it would not be difficult to escape the current encirclement. But Meng Qi feared that experts were still waiting in the shadows. If he left this chaotic place, they would be able to lock onto their target and strike. Then there would be fierce tigers ahead and a pack of wolves behind—his life would hang by a thread.

Within a few steps, Meng Qi charged into the enemies before him. His feet never stopped moving, appearing and vanishing like a ghost. Whenever his blade light flashed, blood would spray and a figure would fall.

During this process, the chaos was so great that Meng Qi could not completely evade attacks even with Eight Steps of Divine Travel. But he knew to avoid vital spots and use Iron Cloth Shirt to take the blows head-on. After half an incense stick's time, though his body bore many saber wounds and sword cuts, he had never suffered a serious injury or lost his fighting strength.

The enemies surrounding him grew more alarmed the longer they fought. Before them, Meng Qi was like a phantom in the night; every time he appeared, it was accompanied by a companion's death or grievous injury. Most of their own attacks landed on their allies, forcing them to hold back. And when they finally managed to wound him, they found their sabers and swords obstructed, unable to cut deeply.

He was practically a monster!

They all knew of Iron Body Skills, but in such an environment, with the support of Eight Steps of Divine Travel, Iron Cloth Shirt gave them an intense sense that he was no longer human!

However, even so, Meng Qi was not having an easy time. The enemies seemed endless, and weapons appeared to attack from every direction, placing him under immense pressure. One moment of carelessness, and he might be struck in a vulnerable point.

Rain flew everywhere, blood splashed in all directions, and the stench of blood filled his nose. Meng Qi fought the night on all sides, barely holding on. Corpses fell around him one after another, yet even more figures seemed to close in.

Xiao Zi lay in the mud, tensing her waist and abdomen as she tried to stand. But her body was weak and limp, and she failed. She could only watch helplessly as the ambushing enemies closed in.

"Xiao Sang, Xiao Sang..." In fear and despair, she did not even know what she was muttering.

In her panic, she suddenly froze. The enemies closing in did not approach her, but instead joined the fierce battle ahead.

Rain came down in sheets, lightning raced across the sky, and Xiao Zi vaguely saw a figure moving about everywhere, blade light weaving like cloth and firmly drawing all nearby enemies toward him.

That figure was small in stature, yet at this moment, he seemed so tall and dependable.

He was wounded time and again, yet silently endured without a single cry of pain, a stark contrast to the waves of screams around him.

Xiao Zi stopped muttering, and the terror and panic on her face gradually receded.

In the midst of the fierce battle, Meng Qi did not know how much time had passed. Just as he felt he could no longer endure, an enemy before him suddenly cried out and turned to flee.

Though they were brave men and knew their opponents were few, faced with nearly fifty percent casualties, they could not suppress the fear in their hearts and finally collapsed.

After all, they were not truly people unafraid of death!

With the first, naturally came the second. Very quickly, the pressure on Meng Qi sharply lessened, and he became at ease, the enemies before him falling or fleeing one after another.

Just as he prepared to look around and assist Qi Zhengyan, he suddenly saw a tall figure burst from the woods by the roadside, swift as a galloping horse and holding a long saber.

"An expert at Major Qi Accumulation!" Meng Qi knew that the enemies around him had thinned out and become empty and vast, allowing the hidden expert to lock onto him. But he was not afraid. This was not the time to flee in a panic, when he had no time to observe and could only passively take blows and suffer surprise attacks.

Since he had spotted him in advance, then... Zhang Yuanshan's advice flashed through Meng Qi's mind: if he encountered an enemy at Major Qi Accumulation, he had to use speed against slowness, trading minor wounds for major ones.

As the thought flashed through his mind, after a moment of slight fear, savage courage rose within Meng Qi. He slipped past an enemy, raised his blade, and met his opponent head-on.

As the two drew nearer, Meng Qi vaguely saw that it was a cold, stern Big Man.

The Monastic Blade swept out. Just as it was about to clash with the long saber, Meng Qi stepped through Eight Steps of Divine Travel, sliding and turning, arriving behind the expert like a ghost and chopping straight at the back of his head.

The expert did not panic. Agile and nimble, he sidestepped the blow while flicking his long saber backward, aiming at Meng Qi's chest and abdomen in an attempt to force him to abandon his attack.

This was the move of a seasoned and steady fighter.

Meng Qi clenched his teeth and actually lunged forward bodily, facing the long saber without dodging or evading!

The long saber carved a deep wound across Meng Qi's chest and abdomen. Blood gushed out, creating a patch of crimson before the expert's eyes.

Damn it! The instant his long saber truly struck solid flesh, the expert had a bad premonition. He wanted to roll aside to evade, but the rebounding force transmitted through the blade slowed him for an instant.

With a flash of blade-light, the expert's stunned expression solidified on his face. His head flew into the air, watching his own headless corpse slowly collapse.

Meng Qi had no time to inspect the results of the battle. He took a slash from a remaining enemy squarely on his back, feeling searing pain between his chest and abdomen, his legs go weak and his head spin.

Not a minor wound... Meng Qi mocked himself inwardly. His opponent truly had been formidable; that slash had nearly split open his chest and abdomen. He had been badly injured.

Yet he did not regret it. If he had allowed the other side to gauge the full extent of his abilities and adopt a targeted approach, his life would likely have been in grave danger.

This battle also made Meng Qi understand a principle: the high or low of one's martial arts was merely the key factor deciding the final outcome, not everything. Just as his opponent had been far stronger than him, yet it was the other man's corpse lying on the ground, not his own.

The few remaining enemies were all people who feared no death. Seeing the Leader who had directed this operation die, they did not consider fleeing. Instead, they closed in, intending to take Meng Qi's life while he was injured and weak!

Since the battle began, Meng Qi had expended a tremendous amount of energy. At this moment, his limbs indeed felt powerless, but he was not flustered. After killing an expert at Major Qi Accumulation with one stroke, he felt a strange confidence toward these remaining enemies.

At this moment, sword-light lit up—ethereal and elusive, like smoke and mist.

Several cold stars abruptly appeared amid the fog, and the enemies before Meng Qi fell one after another.

"Are you all right?" Qi Zhengyan appeared, drenched in blood. It was impossible to tell whether it was his own or someone else's.

Meng Qi shook his head, tore off a strip of his monk's robe, and simply bound the wound between his chest and abdomen. "Nothing serious, but I've lost rather a lot of blood and expended too much energy. What about you?"

"More or less the same. Just now, I encountered a sword expert at Major Qi Accumulation and took a sword wound." Qi Zhengyan remained as stern and unsmiling as ever, but his face had grown much paler. Though he was stronger than Meng Qi, this sort of chaotic melee suited Meng Qi's martial arts better, and he had suffered quite a few injuries. Had he not mastered the nimble and unpredictable Thirteen Forms of Ever-Changing Cloud and Mist, whether he could have survived would still be uncertain.

"We need to enter the mountains as soon as possible. Quite a few enemies escaped; I'm afraid Reinforcements may arrive." Meng Qi looked around and sighed. "We should also look for them and bury their bodies where they lie."

He felt that Xiang Hui and Xiao Zi would find it difficult to have survived under such circumstances.

"Master, are you all right?" As soon as the words fell, Xiao Zi shakily got to her feet and walked over, examining the wounds on Meng Qi's body.

Meng Qi froze for a moment. "Miss Xiao Zi, you're all right?"

Xiao Zi pursed her lips in a smile, faint traces of charm showing through. She seemed considerably prettier than usual. "They all went to surround and attack you Masters. I was lying on the ground, and no one paid me any attention."

At this moment, Xiang Hui also staggered over with a hand clapped over his face. "Divine Monk, Great Hero Qi, are you well?"

"You're all right too?" Meng Qi was even more astonished.

Xiang Hui lowered his hand, revealing a deep wound on his face. It ran from his left forehead down to his right cheek, exceptionally savage-looking. "This lowly one took a slash and fainted on the ground. They actually ignored me too—perhaps they took me for dead. Still, it was thanks to you Divine Monk and the others for drawing the enemy away."

Meng Qi curled his lips and muttered under his breath, "Had I known, I would've played dead too."

But he knew perfectly well that without him and Qi Zhengyan drawing the enemies' attention, playing dead would have been useless no matter how convincingly he did it.

Xiao Zi searched among the nearby corpses for cleaner strips of cloth, tearing them all off and gathering them in her arms, intending to bandage Meng Qi's wounds.

Xiang Hui, meanwhile, angrily turned over the corpses in search of valuables. But since they had gone out to kill people, they naturally carried neither manuals nor wealth. He found only a few hidden weapons.

Half a day later, as the sky was just beginning to brighten, Meng Qi slowly woke.

The four of them had traveled through the night and already crossed the mountain ridge. Once they descended, the Shaolin Mountain Gate lay ahead.

However, Meng Qi and Qi Zhengyan had both been badly wounded earlier. By midnight, they could no longer hold on, so they found a cave to rest and recover briefly while awaiting dawn.

After meditating and taking a short nap, Meng Qi's wounds had already closed up, and much of his energy had returned. He rose and moved his fists and legs around, discovering that Qi Zhengyan was keeping watch outside the cave. Xiang Hui held his face and groaned softly, while Xiao Zi was curled into a ball, still asleep.

"Xiaosang, don't come over... Xiaosang, don't come near me..." Xiao Zi murmured in her sleep. Then she suddenly rolled over and sat up, already jolted awake.

"Master..." She looked at Meng Qi somewhat blankly, seemingly unable to make sense of the situation after waking.

Meng Qi smiled. "We should prepare to head down the mountain. Shaolin is at the foot of the neighboring mountain."

Xiao Zi's dazed expression vanished. She nodded gently, then asked with some unease, "Master, did I... did I say anything in my sleep?"

"You were calling for Xiaosang?" Meng Qi deliberately brought it up.

Xiao Zi gave an "Ah," her expression changing again and again. In a low voice, she said, "Master, in the future, you absolutely must be careful of a girl named Gu Xiaosang. She is the worst, worst villain in the entire world."

"Why?" Meng Qi's smile did not change, though inwardly he felt that this ordinary young woman, powerless even to truss a chicken, likely had some secrets. But who did not have secrets? Besides, he did not know whether she could survive until this mission ended.

"...Um... Anyway, she's very, very bad! She kills without blinking!" Xiao Zi tried hard to emphasize it.

At this moment, Qi Zhengyan walked in. The blood on his body had already darkened to a deep red. "Let's set out. We should strive to enter Shaolin before noon."