Resolute, Yang Shuang

"The Beast-Driving Technique?"

At the sight of the wildcat, Lian Youming's heart sank to rock bottom.

It was a lynx.

Though less imposing than a large predator, it was far harder to deal with. It could scale walls and leap across rooftops, moving with extraordinary speed and ferocity-one of the top predators in the northeast.

"Go!"

Third Brother Xie seemed unwilling to waste any more effort and had decided to finish this quickly. Standing in the snow, he merely pointed at the boy's retreating back, and the wildcat beside him sprang into the air, all four paws leaving the ground as it pounced.

In an instant, Lian Youming felt a chill at the back of his neck. The fine hairs on the backs of his hands stood on end.

The creature really was as fast as lightning. With a single leap and a swipe of its claws, it was already just over a meter behind him. Then came a piercing screech, and it opened its jaws to bite his neck.

Lian Youming felt a burst of hot breath splash against his skin, and goose bumps visibly rose across his nape. But at that moment, he made an astonishing move. Twisting his upper body without the slightest hesitation, he thrust one arm straight into the beast's gaping mouth.

At the same time, the instant its teeth clamped onto his left arm, his right hand gave a subtle flick. A glint of cold steel slid from his sleeve, and he drove it hard into the wildcat's chest and belly.

Everything happened extremely fast. Lian Youming was in front, the lynx behind, and with snow and wind filling the sky and flying frost obscuring his vision, Third Brother Xie saw only the boy and beast tumble forward together into a snow-filled gully. A pool of crimson blood rapidly spread across the snow and seeped into the woods.

Third Brother Xie watched the spreading blood with icy eyes, a cold smile forming on his face. But as he smiled, his gaze settled on the lynx struggling to rise from the snow. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he strode over. By the time he lowered his gaze, his smile had vanished. The blood was flowing from beneath the lynx.

The next second, snow and frost burst upward from the ground. A length of cold steel darted out like a venomous snake, stabbing and flicking as it swept toward Third Brother Xie's ankle.

Amid the whiteout, Lian Youming's eyes flashed. His breath came in sharp bursts, and a short dagger was clutched in his hand.

The Short Dagger had a black body and a bright blade, triangular in shape, with a cold gleam at its tip. It was a three-edged military spike.

Fast, precise, ruthless, and fierce.

"A military killing technique?"

Third Brother Xie's eyelid twitched. A sudden chill touched his ankle; his padded trousers had been cut open.

But just as the Military Dagger was about to pierce his flesh and sever his ankle tendons, he pushed off with one foot. His other foot shifted with his knee, whipping through a series of sharp kicks. His left foot darted left and right, not only avoiding the Military Dagger's edge but striking Lian Youming's right wrist.

With a smack, searing pain shot through Lian Youming's wrist, and he jerked his right hand back as though shocked.

Third Brother Xie showed no mercy. As one foot landed, the other rose. Power surged through his long leg like a whip, and it swept squarely into Lian Youming's chest.

"Urgh!"

Wind and snow struck his face, the frost like knives. Lian Youming let out a muffled grunt and flipped backward. Dazed, he felt as though all his internal organs had shifted out of place.

Warmth touched his nostrils, and a trickle of hot blood ran out.

As for the lynx, it lay motionless on the ground. The Military Dagger had pierced its chest and belly and twisted a ragged hole through them.

"Well, boy. Hiding your skill behind a clumsy front, and scheming like that. I underestimated you."

Glancing at the slit in his trousers, then at the boy who had rolled onto his knees but never stopped watching him, Third Brother Xie could not help marveling inwardly.

The boy was only sixteen or seventeen, yet he already had such cunning and ability. He had also received the true teachings of Taiji Gate. More importantly, he was resolute and decisive. Once he decided to kill, he did not hesitate.

Third Brother Xie was certain that, given the chance just now, Lian Youming would have taken his life without a second thought.

He really was a promising prospect.

"Boy, I'm one of the White Lotus Sect's thirty-six honored retainers. Above me stand the nine great guardians, and below me kneel a hundred and eight true disciples of the sect. Following me would be no disgrace to you."

Lian Youming wiped the blood from his face. It had still been slightly warm moments ago, but now it had turned to ice.

Cold.

Cold that crept into every gap.

His entire face felt numb, and his hands and feet had grown considerably sluggish. Cold seeped through his collar, and even his sweat had frozen.

Third Brother Xie smiled, but his eyes remained icy. "This is your last chance. Don't worry. We're right by the border here. Once we succeed, we can flee the country immediately. I guarantee you'll live free and easy."

Lian Youming spat, glanced at his left arm where the lynx had bitten him, and said lightly, "You've got one last chance too. Get lost now, and I can still spare you."

"Quite the boy. At death's door, and still running your mouth."

Third Brother Xie's smile turned cruel as he prepared to take the boy's life. But just as he was about to move, he saw Lian Youming's eyes flash. The boy looked toward him-past him, at something behind him-as though signaling to someone.

What was this brat doing?

Was someone behind him?

Right as his attention wavered, Lian Youming shouted again, "Now!"

Third Brother Xie's aged face tightened. Without a second thought, he darted several meters sideways.

Only after shielding the vulnerable points on his back did he narrow his eyes and look.

But behind him, the wind blew snow across a vast expanse of white. There was no one there.

Meanwhile, Lian Youming had scrambled and rolled another stretch away, beckoning to Third Brother Xie with one finger without even looking back.

Third Brother Xie drew a deep breath. Veins bulged at his temples, and the muscles in his face twitched. His tightly pressed lips suddenly opened wide, and he shrieked, "Die!"

Feeling the towering murderous intent behind him, Lian Youming swallowed the blood in his mouth. His eyes remained clear, and there was no panic on his face. On the contrary, he was calm and composed.

The more dangerous the situation, the more he needed to stay rational. If he threw himself into confusion, what chance did he have of winning?

Besides, Lian Youming had not come unprepared for this situation.

After all, fists and feet were far from the only things in the world that could kill. There were even more ways to defeat someone.

As the eldest son in a military family, particularly under the upbringing of a father who was a roughneck who knew nothing but warfare, Lian Youming had suffered all manner of hardships.

He had learned plenty as well.

Though the martial path was wondrous and mysterious, Lian Youming would never deify it.

In the end, they were still flesh and blood. A blade would still draw blood, and a bullet would still punch a hole through them.

All this time, he had been running all over the mountains every day precisely to deal with Third Brother Xie.

The snow fell harder.

The thick snow nearly reached the bends of his knees.

No longer caring whether the Toad-Catching Force was good or bad, Lian Youming held a breath, his chest and belly swelling and contracting as he fled downhill through the wind and snow.

At that moment, he no longer cared what Third Brother Xie and the Mountain-Guarding Old Man were fighting over.

He knew only that these people were anything but good. They were not merely vicious villains, but a tremendous scourge.

With things having reached this point, Lian Youming had no way back. He could only hope that the Mountain-Guarding Old Man would win this battle and save him, along with everyone at the Logging Camp.

What he needed to do now was ease the pressure on the Mountain-Guarding Old Man. Kill if he could, stall if he could, and do everything possible to give the old man a chance to win.

But as fast as Lian Youming fled, Third Brother Xie pursued him even harder. Determined to kill him, the man held nothing back. He spread his arms and sprang into the air like an eagle swooping on its prey, his hands forming talons in an eagle's snatching posture. With a long howl, he soared up and lunged straight at him.

Fast. Inconceivably fast.

Closer. Closer still.

Then Third Brother Xie fell into a hole.

Beneath the white snow, his foot broke through the covering of a pit trap, neither particularly deep nor shallow, and he dropped inside.

Third Brother Xie's breath caught. He hurriedly spread his legs and braced his feet against the edges on either side of the pit. Staring at the sharpened wooden stakes below, his old eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

There was more than one trap on this mountain.

Third Brother Xie suddenly realized something. Lian Youming had been wandering all over the mountains these past days. Could he have been setting these traps?

Watching Lian Youming's fleeing back, Third Brother Xie felt an inexplicable tremor in his heart. He looked again at the white world before him, at the heavy snow, and felt a hint of mortal danger he had not experienced in a long time.

In weather and terrain like this, no one knew what lay buried beneath the snow. With Lian Youming's endless tricks and cunning, there really might be something lethal waiting for him.

Lian Youming suddenly stopped, panting heavily, then grinned broadly, as though mocking him without a word.

Yet the boy kept smiling, waiting for Third Brother Xie to pursue and kill him.

Third Brother Xie gathered his breath and leaped, escaping the meter-deep pit in moments.

Now there was actually a measure of wariness in his eyes, and he began to take Lian Youming seriously as the boy grimaced from the pain in his chest while grinning strangely at him.

Not a word, not a sound.

Third Brother Xie stepped forward. This time, he pursued by following the tracks Lian Youming had left.

But as though he had anticipated this, Lian Youming deliberately tried to confuse Third Brother Xie even as he turned and fled again. His rhythm was strange, and the distance between his steps varied from long to short.

Following behind, Third Brother Xie could not tell which steps had landed firmly and which had barely touched the ground. Wary and hesitant, he strangely ended up maintaining a fixed distance from the boy.

But this did not last long.

The farther Lian Youming ran, the more tired and cold he became. Warmth continually drained from beneath his coat and sweater, as though congealing into ice. Even his padded shoes gradually grew cold. The chill seeped in until they felt like two frozen lumps of iron.

During the pursuit, Third Brother Xie, having calmed down, disarmed eleven traps in succession without a single mishap. There were snares, pits, spikes, and even a large net woven from dried vines.

Third Brother Xie had truly never expected Lian Youming to have kept such a trick hidden, and he had nearly fallen victim to it. He also noticed the boy's gradually slowing footsteps, but did not rush to catch up. He merely followed.

After being tricked and humiliated repeatedly, Third Brother Xie thoroughly hated that retreating figure, whose backside kept bobbing before his eyes. Especially now, his hatred for Lian Youming was actually somewhat stronger than his hatred for the Mountain-Guarding Old Man.

An ant of a thing.

Sure enough, Lian Youming gradually slowed, then simply stopped altogether and went no farther.

"Come on, chase me!"

Lian Youming's face was bloodless and his lips pale. A layer of ice already coated the fine hairs on his face, the disheveled hair over his forehead, his brows, and his lashes.

Third Brother Xie's head was also covered in frost, but hot vapor still billowed out with each breath.

"Don't worry. I won't kill you. First I'll cut out your tongue, then sever the tendons in your wrists and ankles, and leave you lying here."

Lian Youming forced a smile uglier than a sob. "Say, is it too late to come with you now?"

But Third Brother Xie would not be fooled again, and his patience had run out. He closed in step by step, smiling chillingly. "Die!"

Yet just as he reached Lian Youming, with only half a step between them, a snare suddenly sprang from the snow and caught Third Brother Xie's right foot.

Another trap.

But Third Brother Xie seemed to have had enough of all this frustration. His face twisted hideously, and his right hand shot out, clamping onto the fist Lian Youming swung at him in that opening.

The boy's face was just as savage, like a wolf cub driven into a corner. Even with his wrist caught, the murderous intent in his eyes was impossible to hide.

"I know you're trying to save the people at the Logging Camp. Hmph. An ant like you thinks he's fit to challenge me?" Third Brother Xie's expression was dark, filled with both hatred and satisfaction. He quietly exerted force through his fingers, and the sound of cracking bone came from Lian Youming's wrist. "I'll slaughter every last one of them in a moment to vent my hatred."

But just then, at that critical instant between life and death, Lian Youming's eyes suddenly lit up, as though he had found a way out of certain doom. He stared straight behind Third Brother Xie.

Having already been fooled once, Third Brother Xie would never fall for it again. He sneered, "Heh, playing tricks again. Do you think the same trick will-"

Before he could finish, however, a petite figure bounded through the trees amid the swirling snow. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, she drove her fist like a hammer straight into the center of Third Brother Xie's back.

Third Brother Xie had sensed her too, but he had lost the initiative and had no time to react. In haste, he could only gather a breath. His thick padded coat instantly swelled as though a wad of cotton had been stuffed inside, attempting to dissipate the force striking him from behind.

"Urgh!"

With a grunt of pain, Third Brother Xie turned to look, his teeth clenched.

"Yang Shuang!"

The newcomer was drenched in blood and had presumably been through a fierce battle herself. It was none other than Shuang'er.

But something else frightened Third Brother Xie even more. He suddenly realized that Lian Youming's right hand-the wrist held in his grip-was twisting free at that very moment. As it turned, it generated a strange, spiraling force, fine as drawn silk. Pitifully weak though it was, it proved highly effective.

"Silk-Coiling Hand!"

And the instant Lian Youming broke free, a Military Dagger plunged hard into Third Brother Xie's chest, twisting and churning.

Third Brother Xie turned back and found the boy's wildly trembling eyes before him. They seemed to reveal the bewilderment of killing for the first time, yet also held an indescribable resolve.

But moments later, all of it settled into composure, along with a trace of cunning at having succeeded.

Third Brother Xie's eyes turned so red they looked ready to bleed. He raised his leg and kicked. In his shock and fury, he even snapped the snare.

"Get away!"

It was both a furious roar and a scream of agony.

The kick caught Lian Youming, and he used its momentum to pull out the Military Dagger.

The instant the blade left his body, a thick jet of scalding blood burst forth and splashed across the boy's frostbound face, filling his eyes with red.

(End of chapter)