A Bolt at the End of Its Flight

As Huang Xiao looked at Hu Guyi before him, his spirits instantly plunged to rock bottom. This man was the head of a sect. Even if it was only a third-rate sect, he was still an expert.

"A dying struggle?" Hu Guyi laughed when he saw Huang Xiao take the initiative to attack. Dealing with Huang Xiao was simply too easy for him.

"Hmm? I don't believe the Green Ox Gate has a technique like this?" Seeing Huang Xiao use the Coiling Snake Hand, Hu Guyi immediately recognized that it was not a Green Ox Gate technique. After all, he was very familiar with the sect.

It was only natural that Huang Xiao would use the Coiling Snake Hand. Although he had learned quite a few fist and palm techniques during his time at the Green Ox Gate, none was as familiar to him as the Coiling Snake Hand, and it was also the technique with which he could unleash the greatest power.

"Argh!" Hu Guyi struck Huang Xiao in the chest with his palm. Huang Xiao's so-called Coiling Snake Hand had not served the slightest purpose. Before Hu Guyi, Huang Xiao had no chance to make a move at all.

"Hmm?" Hu Guyi felt somewhat puzzled. When his palm had struck Huang Xiao's chest just now, his internal power had seemed to slip somewhat beyond his control, even showing signs of draining away. But it had lasted only an instant before disappearing, so Hu Guyi soon dismissed it.

"Still alive?" Hu Guyi was rather surprised. By his reckoning, that palm strike should have been enough to take Huang Xiao's life. Still, he did not care. Although Huang Xiao had survived the blow, Hu Guyi could see that he had suffered grievous internal injuries and probably did not have much time left.

Am I going to die? Agony wracked Huang Xiao's entire body. Hu Guyi's palm strike had left him completely unable to move. His immobility was the least of his troubles. What threatened his life was the immense surge of internal power rampaging through his meridians. Huang Xiao understood that this was Hu Guyi's internal power, which had invaded his meridians through the force of that palm strike.

Hu Guyi had intended to stamp down and end Huang Xiao's life, but when he saw the three men fighting fiercely nearby, he changed his mind. Lifting Huang Xiao in one hand, he shouted to Xuanzhenzi, "Xuanzhenzi, your disciple is in my hands! If you want him to live, surrender at once!"

"M-Master, don't worry about me!" Huang Xiao cried weakly.

Xuanzhenzi forced Bai Tianqi and Zhang Ming back with a palm strike, then turned to stare at Hu Guyi.

"Humiliated into a rage?" Hu Guyi was immensely pleased with himself. He was delighted that he would obtain the cultivation art and break through his current realm. This was what he had pursued all his life. What did betraying a friend matter? For the sake of greater power, he would not care even if it were his own family.

But before his smug delight had subsided, Xuanzhenzi gave a thunderous shout. His foot struck the ground hard, and he shot toward Hu Guyi like lightning.

Hu Guyi's first instinct was to kill the captive Huang Xiao with a palm strike, but he immediately realized that if he killed Huang Xiao, he would probably die at Xuanzhenzi's hands as well. Besides, Huang Xiao was already near death, so there was no need to take that unnecessary step. Instead, he lashed out with his palm and swiftly retreated.

Yet Xuanzhenzi did not evade Hu Guyi's palm strike. He took it head-on. Under Hu Guyi's horrified gaze, Xuanzhenzi was already right before him.

"Hu Guyi, you deserve to die!" Xuanzhenzi said coldly.

"Ha!" Hu Guyi hurled Huang Xiao straight at Xuanzhenzi's face, then laughed loudly. "Xuanzhenzi, your disciple is finished! Even if I don't kill him, he won't live another two hours. And you want to kill me? How ridiculous! With Sect Master Bai here today, you can't kill me!"

With a sweep of his hand, Xuanzhenzi caught Huang Xiao, then swiftly tapped several major vital acupoints around his body. He then gave Huang Xiao a gentle push, sending him several yards away.

Xuanzhenzi charged at Hu Guyi again, but Hu Guyi laughed loudly. "Xuanzhenzi, you're already a bolt at the end of its flight, yet you still want to put on a show of strength?"

As he spoke, Hu Guyi reached to his waist, and a long, slender flexible sword appeared in his hand. This was the iron sword that had made his name, and the Iron Sword Sect had taken its name from this very sword. His renowned Iron Sword Sword Technique, coupled with this flexible iron sword, had earned him a measure of fame in the martial world.

"The Iron Sword Sword Technique?" Xuanzhenzi sneered, then twisted through the air to evade the flexible sword thrusting toward him. He flicked a finger against the blade as it closed in, knocking the iron sword aside.

Hu Guyi could not recover his sword's momentum in time. Xuanzhenzi pressed one hand against his wrist, then struck it hard. Hu Guyi screamed, no longer able to hold on to his iron sword.

With a clang, the iron sword fell to the ground. Then Xuanzhenzi swept out a leg and sent Hu Guyi flying with a kick.

"Sect Master, save me!" Hu Guyi screamed as he was kicked away. His heart was filled with resentment toward Bai Tianqi. He had never expected Bai Tianqi and Zhang Ming to fail to come to his aid promptly while he fought Xuanzhenzi. He also knew that they wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight. He was not one of their Huaqing Sect members; even if he died, they would not care.

Seeing Hu Guyi kicked away, Bai Tianqi and Zhang Ming could hardly keep delaying on the sidelines.

"Impossible! Why hasn't your strength declined yet?" After exchanging blows, Bai Tianqi was still astonished. Xuanzhenzi was even stronger than he had estimated.

"Hmph! When I broke through to the first-class realm, I opened my Ren and Du Meridians. The internal power in these meridians flows without end. Even though I've been gravely poisoned, I won't exhaust my strength anytime soon," Xuanzhenzi said with a cold laugh.

"Impressive! The first-class realm truly is impressive. Opening the Ren and Du Meridians really does bring an enormous increase in internal power. Now I look forward to the Sixty-Year Pill even more!" Bai Tianqi laughed instead. It was not as though he had never seen a first-class expert before. He also knew that only by opening the Ren and Du Meridians could one enter the first-class realm. Once someone reached that realm, the internal power within their body could practically be said to flow without end. Exhausting a first-class expert's power was almost impossible. Only when two great experts were closely matched could their power offset each other's; otherwise, even ten second-rate upper grade experts would be no match for a single first-class expert.

Huang Xiao struggled to get up. He sat cross-legged, then circulated his cultivation art to regulate his breathing. The internal power within him was now running wild. Although only a portion of Hu Guyi's internal power had invaded his body, it completely suppressed his Everlasting Spring True Qi. He had only a year's worth of internal cultivation, which could not compare with Hu Guyi's decades of internal power.

No, this isn't internal power that Hu Guyi drove into my body. This situation seems similar to what happened with Senior Brother Qinghe. I must have absorbed it from him. But Hu Guyi's internal power comes from a different cultivation art than mine. When I absorbed Qinghe's internal power before, we both had internal power cultivated through the Everlasting Spring Art, so I could quickly assimilate it after absorbing it, merging it with my own internal power and making it my own. But this surge of internal power is resisting, which is why it's rampaging through my meridians, Huang Xiao thought.

All Huang Xiao wanted now was to suppress the rampaging internal power within him as quickly as possible. He did not hope to be able to help his master, but he had to do his best not to become a burden. If the situation truly became hopeless, he would have to let his master escape, even if it meant taking his own life.

Huang Xiao's efforts were not in vain. He could feel the force of the internal power battering his meridians growing weaker and weaker. But this required time, and right now, he could not possibly be given that much time.