Lu Wu-bing drew a circle beneath his feet, his body spinning...
He brushed past Ouyang Lan, arcing around her.
The two had learned from the same school and shared an unspoken understanding. They spun sharply at the same time, already switching positions.
Ouyang Lan faced Chen San-yang head-on.
The longsword in her hand suddenly blossomed with starlight that filled the sky, swaying and flickering.
Yaoguang Swordplay unleashed at full force.
The sword tip trembled, hissing again and again.
Like stars glittering in the dark night, real and illusory, impossible to discern.
No one could tell which strike was real and which was false.
At the same time, a streak of radiant light flashed like a silver serpent, erupting forward and piercing Ge Zhong's left chest.
"Pfft!"
That sword strike did not miss.
In the instant Ouyang Lan's sword light dazzled everyone's eyes.
Lu Wu-bing seemed to teleport, his sword piercing straight through Ge Zhong's heart.
His blade tapped the howling Coiling Dragon Staff, numbing his wrist slightly from the impact as he flew backward.
"Close!"
Ouyang Lan gave a delicate shout.
The sword light, once swift, fierce, and dazzling, suddenly became incomparably gentle, like a mountain breeze or a stream winding along a ridge.
With Light Clouds Obscure the Moon, her nimble sword move locked down Chen San-yang's Coiling Dragon Staff for half an instant.
Bang...
Lu Wu-bing's flying body abruptly stopped. He dipped slightly and thrust out his left palm.
With peerless speed, it stamped against Chen San-yang's kidney.
A dull impact rang out.
Chen San-yang's staff had achieved nothing, while Ge Zhong, the Second Chief beside him, had died on the spot. He was furious enough for his hair to stand on end, wanting to smash the two young brats before him into pulp with all his strength.
Just as he was silently gritting his teeth, he discovered that the little girl was remarkably tenacious, and he could not break through her urgent attacks...
Her longsword flowed in an unbroken, dense weave, locking down his long staff so it could not be swung freely.
Meanwhile, the boy had abandoned his sword for his palm, fighting in a strange and baffling manner.
Before he could react.
He felt a chill at his waist. Layer upon layer of force surged like ocean waves, battering his five viscera and six bowels in wave after wave.
His blood and qi boiled, and his body went numb.
He could not draw in a breath.
His heart immediately cried that things were bad.
This was where Lu Wu-bing's advantage of grasping martial arts at a touch and mastering them with a little practice became apparent.
It had only been three or four days since he obtained the Eastern Sea Sword Sect's [Surging Wave Palm], yet he had already grasped its essential flavor and cultivated it to the Proficient Realm.
His skill in applying force even surpassed that of Lu Zhongkui and his [Life-Severing Sword].
Now, with one palm strike, four layers of force surged forth like a raging tide, damaging sinews and tearing veins, shattering bones and drawing marrow.
Even though Chen San-yang possessed the tough external cultivation of Golden Thread Armor, the palm strike still sent golden stars bursting before his eyes and abruptly stalled his blood and qi.
Now was the time.
As soon as Lu Wu-bing's palm connected, he saw Senior Sister Xiaolan sent flying backward by the heavy force of the staff, while Chen San-yang's body stiffened for an instant as well.
He moved diagonally, unleashing White Rainbow Pierces the Sun for the ninth time.
This time was vastly different from before.
The sword light transformed into a blood-red rainbow, flashing across Chen San-yang's throat and piercing half a foot through.
The blade passed through the back of his neck, then dragged back in a slicing cut, severing half his neck.
That tough, solid resistance made Lu Wu-bing feel as if he were cutting raw iron.
"Cough, cough..."
Chen San-yang's vitality was indeed tenacious. Even with half his neck cut away, he did not immediately die.
His eyes bulged like a toad's, gurgling sounds coming from his throat. "My... my second brother?"
His only regret was that his second brother, Chen Gong, had led men down the mountain.
If Chen Gong had been at his side to support him.
With his second brother's archery and lightness skill, no matter how poorly things went, he could at least have bought him a little time.
He would not have been manipulated and plotted against by the pair, suffering such a crushing defeat.
"You mean that long-faced, ox-eyed fellow? His body was punched through with more than ten holes. He died ten times worse than you did.
If you hurry along, perhaps you can still catch up with him on the Bridge of Helplessness."
Senior Sister Xiaolan had always been easygoing, bright, and gentle. She normally could not bring herself to say anything too vicious.
Perhaps she recalled the bloody scene she had seen earlier in Gu Family Village. At this moment, even her words became sharp.
She could anger someone to death without paying for their life.
Chen San-yang trembled all over.
He failed to draw in his final breath. The hand clutching one side of his throat fell limply, the light leaving his eyes as he toppled backward.
Boom...
He crashed to the ground and never moved again.
"So, he had not cultivated Golden Thread Armor until it was seamless from top to bottom. He still needed to forcefully raise his blood and qi to temporarily protect his vital points." Ouyang Lan looked at Chen San-yang's deathly stare and suddenly understood.
She turned to Lu Wu-bing, her eyes full of admiration.
In that lightning-flash instant, her junior brother had already seen through the opponent's weakness. He first used the [Surging Wave Palm] to shake his opponent's viscera and blood and qi, slowing the movement of his blood energy, then followed with a sword strike that killed without fail. It had indeed succeeded.
To calculate so exquisitely in the instant of a life-and-death clash.
To break the opponent's body-protecting hard art in merely two or three exchanges.
All she could say was that her junior brother was a genius.
In actual combat, he possessed a keenness far beyond ordinary people.
"Root out evil completely. While all the bandits are still in the stronghold, show no mercy. Kill every one you can."
Lu Wu-bing casually searched Chen San-yang and Ge Zhong's bodies, obtaining several banknotes and a yellowed handwritten booklet...
He glanced at it by the dim firelight in the distance and found methods for striking the body, soaking it in medicinal baths, and tempering one's strength.
He guessed that it was precisely the cultivation method for the Chaoyang Stronghold chief's hard-body art, [Golden Thread Armor].
His heart immediately leaped with joy. These mountain bandits, brigands, and sect disciples all liked to carry secret manuals when they went out. It was a fine habit.
It made sense. If one had not yet mastered a martial art, one naturally needed to consult the text at any time and practice constantly.
Keeping it on one's person was the most convenient and safest way.
Having obtained the secret manual, Lu Wu-bing thought that even if he did not cultivate it, it would still be useful as a reference.
Besides, he cultivated martial arts extremely quickly, and getting started was very easy for him.
Whether it was to strengthen his physique and gain another means of facing enemies, or to reward favored disciples and subordinates in the future, it would be useful.
Now was not the time to inspect the manual.
He tucked the handwritten book into his robes in one motion.
The group rallied their spirits and rushed to assault the stronghold.
Sure enough, they met little resistance this time.
The several stronghold chiefs of formidable martial strength were all dead. The remaining ordinary burly men had only their vigorous blood and youthful strength; how could they be a match for Lu Wu-bing and the others?
They killed from the stronghold gate to the cliff at the rear mountain in less than the time it took an incense stick to burn.
Everyone holding a weapon was slaughtered, more than sixty men in all.
The rest all knelt on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy.
The stronghold had been thoroughly taken.
Looking at the dark mass of kneeling men and women, old and young.
Lu Wu-bing could not quite distinguish which were bandits and which were ordinary people abducted from the mountain's foot as servants. He simply called over several scantily clad women and had them identify the criminals.
"Do not be afraid. The chiefs are all dead, and most of the mountain bandits are dead as well. The remaining fish that slipped through the net will be identified one by one and killed on the spot.
"You need not worry that anyone will retaliate. On the contrary, those who render merit will receive extra grain and money."
As soon as he said this.
Chaos erupted below.
"Young hero, I know him! That Zhang Lin robbed merchant caravans and killed two people. That night, he even stayed in Honest Zeng's house and slept with the man's wife."
"It wasn't me! I didn't do it!"
A lean, wiry man kneeling and kowtowing, his face full of terror, rose onto all fours and scrambled up. With a cry, he turned to flee.
Ssh...
Sword light flashed.
The man halted, lowering his head to stare at the sword tip protruding from his chest as his body crumpled.
"Keep talking. Anyone whose hands are stained with blood, anyone who harmed the common people—none may be spared."
Lu Wu-bing said coldly.
He left the following identification and executions to Gu Dashi and the abused women, no longer intervening.
Gu Dashi had found his wife and children, but the killing intent in his heart had not diminished. With red eyes, he struck ruthlessly.
Lu Wu-bing knew that the man was avenging the elders and villagers of his own village, so he did not stop him...
He turned to Ouyang Lan and found his senior sister gazing upward, her eyes sorrowful as she looked toward the top of the flagpole.
A thin female corpse hung there, riddled with arrows. As the night wind blew, it swayed back and forth in the torchlight.
After cultivating the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, Lu Wu-bing's five senses had been greatly enhanced, and his eyesight was naturally exceptional.
Even from so far away, he could see clearly... the female corpse's loose hair and the sky-blue sword robes she wore.
Though most of it had been darkened by blood.
The small crescent moon embroidered at the cuff could still be seen.
"Could it be..."
"She should be a senior sister from Bright Moon Palace. I do not know why she died here."
Ouyang Lan's heart ached.
Before the New Year, she had followed her mother to Bright Moon Peak as a guest. Those senior sisters and junior sisters had treated her so well.
They took her all around to play and bought her a huge bundle of gifts.
Aunt Guanghan had even taught her two unarmed techniques... she had heard they were an Extinction Art of unarmed techniques obtained from the Great Li imperial family, clever moves for protecting one's life.
Now that she saw a Bright Moon Palace disciple dead in a bandit den, she felt sorrow and was full of doubt.
She beckoned over a plump woman and questioned her.
She had asked about this woman earlier. Others called her Sister-in-law Tong. She had been on the mountain for half a year and was also the woman who had survived there the longest.
Being in a bandit nest was naturally a terribly unfortunate thing.
Yet at the same time, she was one of the rare fortunate people on the mountain...
It was said that because she was both fat and ugly, even the bandits, who were not picky about their appetites, had never set their minds on her.
She had been abducted up the mountain only because she cooked exceptionally well.
Yes, Sister-in-law Tong had inherited the skills of Chef Tong from Huifang Restaurant in Pingshan County. Her cooking was truly extraordinary.
Even bandits pursued the pleasures of food and drink.
Having acquired such talent, they had not mistreated her.
"That heroine was surrounded that day. There was another person with her, but she escaped afterward.
"The Stronghold Chief... ptooey, that bandit Chen led people searching all over the mountain, but in the end they never found her..."
Seeing the two heroes paying attention to the female corpse, Sister-in-law Tong poured everything out without even needing to be asked in detail.
"That heroine was incredible. Although bandit Chen broke her neck, I heard that before she died, she killed seven or eight men and even struck bandit Chen once with some kind of Shadow Palm. It kept him from sleeping for days and nights, and he coughed constantly at night..."
"It was the Moon Shadow Palm, Bright Moon Palace's Extinction Art. It is said, 'Moon Shadow Flowing Light, freezing all things.'
"To injure Chen San-yang, a Sixth Rank external martial artist who cultivated a hard-body art, while surrounded... that senior sister was at least Seventh Rank, perhaps even Sixth Rank.
"When I visited Bright Moon Palace, I did not see her. She was either Senior Sister Xuan He or Senior Sister Xuan Yi."
"Yes, yes, that was the name—Moon Shadow Palm. I heard bandit Chen say that he needed medicines to greatly replenish his vital energy and heal his wounds. Then the Third Chief led men down the mountain."
Because Sister-in-law Tong was a cook, she had behaved herself over the past half year and had enough to eat and a place to sleep. The bandits did not guard against her, so she was fairly well informed.
That also explained why Chen Gong had not hesitated to destroy a village in a bloody slaughter just to obtain the precious ginseng from Gu Dashi.
Because the Stronghold Chief, Chen San-yang, had suffered a palm injury.
It had not yet fully healed.
Even while wounded, he had still been so difficult to handle.
It was clear that the man was truly extraordinary.
Were he not such a figure, he would not have sought to attach himself to a great power and fight for a proper background.
He had been a bandit chief with ambition.
"Take Senior Sister down and bury her properly. The Three Divine Peaks are branches of the same tree; we cannot let her remain in such an undignified state."
Ouyang Lan personally lowered the senior sister, who was either Xuan He or Xuan Yi. Unafraid of the filth, she prepared to wash her hands and face clean with water.
"Eh!"
She discovered that this Bright Moon Palace senior sister's blood-smeared hand was still clutching something tightly.
Judging by how tightly her five fingers were curled, it should have been something she treasured beyond measure.
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