Whoosh~
The night wind swept across the fields, raising ripples through the wheat between the four men.
Seen from the sky, three men stood with two in front and one behind, advancing slowly in a "Three Talents Formation."
Ye Xingge went straight in with his saber, his path veering slightly to the right.
When the distance between them closed to seven paces, the middle-aged swordsman on the right drew a deep breath, stomped down hard with both feet, and let out a cry:
"Hah-!"
His nine-ring saber thrust straight down the center, its rings rattling sharply. Its brute force was like a raging bull suddenly charging across the fields!
But at that very instant!
Thump~
Ye Xingge kicked off hard with both legs and shot forward, dropping to his knees and sliding ahead. He flattened rows of wheat, evading the nine-ring saber's thrust while raising his own saber to block a downward slash.
Screech-
The blades scraped together, throwing off dazzling sparks!
The middle-aged swordsman's thrust missed, and before he could put his full strength into the downward slash, he felt a gust sweep past his ribs. The man beside him had already vanished.
"Hah-!"
Seeing Ye Xingge attack the flank, Chen Yi'an sprang into action almost at the same time. As Ye Xingge passed along the other side of his deputy, an exceedingly fierce Cleaving Mount Hua came crashing down, passing almost against the deputy's back as it struck at the figure slipping past.
But Ye Xingge, sliding forward on his knees, barely moved his saber. As he slid out from behind the deputy, the three-foot, bloodstained blade was already braced diagonally above him; he merely shifted his left hand to support its spine.
Clang-
Amid the explosive clash of metal, tremendous force traveled down the blade.
Ye Xingge held the saber crosswise with both hands. His forward slide turned sideways in an instant, his knees plowing black earth through the wheat.
Swish-
Yang Tuyan, positioned behind the other two, applied spear principles to his saber and drove straight in, intending to stab the bamboo-hatted man in the face.
But the bamboo-hatted swordsman facing them seemed to have calculated in advance what moves all three would use.
The bamboo-hatted man slid forward on his knees and slipped out to the deputy's right. A straight thrust from Yang Tuyan would only obstruct Chen Yi'an's Cleaving Mount Hua on the left, so he changed his attack to a horizontal slash following Chen Yi'an's saber.
Swish-
But when that short, fierce slash came, the saber in the bamboo-hatted man's hand still barely moved. He simply tilted his horizontal guard slightly into a diagonal one.
Clang-
The two sabers struck the Black Banner Saber in rapid succession, with almost no gap between them.
The impacts sent the bamboo-hatted man sliding sideways. Midway, he sprang up from his knees and leaped more than ten feet. When he landed, he had his saber in his right hand guarding his centerline, his left fist drawn back at his waist, and stopped himself in a bow stance.
Tap, tap, tap...
After striking, Yang Tuyan and Chen Yi'an both pursued him for three paces. Seeing him regain his footing, they stopped at once and planted themselves, facing him once more.
Whoosh~
The wind still blew through the wheat, but this time a faint spraying sound joined it.
Hiss, hiss, hiss~
Drops of blood fell like rain onto the golden wheat.
Behind the three men, the middle-aged swordsman never turned around. He merely staggered forward two steps and looked down, then fell to his knees. His nine-ring saber dropped into the wheat and vanished.
Thud~
Then his figure, too, disappeared into the endless fields, leaving only a few trembling stalks of wheat.
Rustle, rustle~
But no one present paid the slightest attention to those faint sounds, nor were they in any mood to.
Yang Tuyan had made only one attack, yet the pressure on him was already as heavy as a mountain.
After all, the "martial" in the martial arts of the bamboo-hatted man opposite him was not especially remarkable, but the "arts" had reached the height of mastery.
Before they exchanged blows, the man had already calculated the lines of attack all three would take. With precise positioning, he had met three sabers with one and forcibly torn an opening in the Three Talents Formation.
In an ordinary fight, Yang Tuyan believed he could do the same, but he could not tell at all what school the bamboo-hatted man's saber technique came from. Naturally, he could not guess how the next strike would come.
And when he could not guess, he faced endless variables and risks.
Chen Yi'an was a hidden operative of the Eight Pillars Hall and the proprietor of an escort agency. He had considerable experience, and after that single exchange, he too saw the problem. In a low voice, he asked:
"How do we fight him?"
Swish~
Yang Tuyan raised his saber and held it crosswise at his side. Crouching like a tiger, he slowly moved sideways.
"I'll go first."
Without needing to discuss it, Chen Yi'an was already moving sideways, circling toward the other side.
If they attacked him from front and back, he would have to expose his back.
Ye Xingge showed no reaction. Keeping his saber in guard, he slowly retreated, opening the distance between himself and the two men to avoid being caught between attacks from both sides.
Tap, tap...
Seeing this, Chen Yi'an naturally quickened his pace, circling around from the side to get behind him.
Yang Tuyan slowly advanced down the center, watching for a chance to thrust and making it difficult for Ye Xingge to turn around and defend his back.
As the angle between the three men grew wider, the two opponents became harder to keep in view at once.
The bamboo-hatted man between them seemed to know that a blind spot would mean certain death. He chose to attack, suddenly taking a great stride toward Yang Tuyan.
Yang Tuyan watched every part of the bamboo-hatted man's body intently, lowering his own stance as his opponent sprang forward.
To his surprise, the moment the bamboo-hatted man took that step, the left hand at his waist became a city-assaulting cannon, driving a palm strike of unadorned mastery straight at him!
Bang~
His sleeve shook violently as his palm shot out, and with an explosive report, a black cloud burst forth!
The fierce palm wind carried a handful of black earth he had scooped up while sliding backward on his knees, flinging it at Yang Tuyan like a torrential downpour.
?!
Yang Tuyan had just advanced when he saw dirt flying at his face. His eyes widened in shock, and he pulled back without hesitation, shielding himself with his left hand.
Thump-
At that moment, a muffled footfall sounded ahead of him.
Having delivered the palm strike, Ye Xingge released his forward left leg like a tightly coiled spring, spinning around and sweeping his saber toward the rear!
Hum~
The saber sliced through the night wind, its blade giving an eerie, hollow cry beneath the moon.
Chen Yi'an had circled behind him to attack his back. Seeing the bamboo-hatted man forced to strike first, he had already closed in with both hands on his saber.
When he saw his opponent sweep a saber back at him, he broke out in a cold sweat and immediately raised his own blade in a vertical guard.
Clang-
Because of the position from which the spinning slash was launched, it did not carry much force. Chen Yi'an blocked it firmly.
But after forcing Chen Yi'an to draw back his saber to block, Ye Xingge bent his knees slightly. He pressed down on the nine-ring saber with his right hand and clenched his left into a fist, seemingly about to strike Chen Yi'an's lower abdomen at the sea of Qi.
Faced with this punch aimed at an opening, Chen Yi'an lowered and turned his body without hesitation, gripping his nine-ring saber as he tried to knock his opponent aside.
But the instant he turned and exerted his strength, exposing the left side of his neck to Ye Xingge-
Bang!
Ye Xingge's bent legs snapped straight, launching him off the ground and over Chen Yi'an's left shoulder. The saber pressed against the nine-ring blade slid sideways with him, drawing across the unprotected left side of Chen Yi'an's neck.
Slash-
Blood sprayed beneath the moon, staining the golden wheat red!
Ye Xingge flipped over his shoulder, rolled across the ground, and sprang up. Turning around, he held his saber in both hands to guard his centerline and looked behind him.
Tap, tap, tap~
Chen Yi'an had thrown himself forward and staggered several steps under his own momentum, blood spraying from the left side of his neck as he went.
Farther ahead, Yang Tuyan had just evaded the dirt thrown at his face. He looked up and saw the scene, his eyes filled with shock.
"Ghh~..."
Chen Yi'an forced himself to a stop in the wheat. He opened his mouth, then clutched his neck with one hand, his eyes full of disbelief as he tried to look back at his opponent.
But before he had turned halfway, he planted his saber against the ground and staggered to his knees, blood gushing through his fingers.
Thud~
A moment later, Chen Yi'an, the great artery on the left side of his neck severed, disappeared into the wheat.
Nothing else stood in the golden field. Only two saber blades remained, facing each other in silence amid the waves of wheat stirred by the night wind.
Whoosh~~
Ye Xingge's bamboo hat was still on his head, his sleeves and robe fluttering in the wind. There were bloodstains on his chest and arms, but not a single drop was his own. His eyes were calm as he watched his final opponent.
Yang Tuyan's eyes were filled with disbelief.
During the first combined attack, this man had accurately judged the moves all three would make and responded accordingly. Yang Tuyan had still been confident that, if he knew his opponents inside and out, he could do the same.
But judging from their second combined attack, the man before him seemed to have decided, before they even began fighting, how to break the two-man assault after dismantling the Three Talents Formation-and even how to kill Yang Tuyan at the end!
Facing such an opponent, Yang Tuyan brought his concentration to the highest point of his life and asked:
"Who are you?"
Ye Xingge said nothing. With only one opponent left, there was no need for further talk. He simply advanced slowly.
Tap, tap...
Yang Tuyan could already tell that this man was no ordinary person.
Though the man's cultivation was not high, it seemed to be his only weakness. In every other respect, Yang Tuyan would have believed him to be an old Second Rank demon who had lost all his cultivation. He asked again:
"There's no hatred in your eyes. You and I aren't mortal enemies, so why are you pursuing me so relentlessly?"
Tap, tap, tap...
No more words sounded across the golden field, only killing intent with every step.
Faced with this suffocating, silent advance, Yang Tuyan felt like a bird or beast that had run into a hunter.
They were not even the same kind of creature. How could furious barking or low growls draw the slightest response from the other?
His opponent might be killing him simply because the hunter wanted to fill his belly.
His two companions had died in the blink of an eye, and the outcome seemed to have been settled long ago.
But even the most seasoned hunter could have his eyes pecked out by an eagle!
Yang Tuyan had entered the capital seeking revenge. If he dared set his sights on that unshakable dragon robe in Yong Capital, he could not have been without something to rely on!
Seeing that his opponent would not answer, Yang Tuyan said no more. He held his saber with its blade lowered to guard his centerline, raised his left hand slightly to protect his heart, and inched forward in a bow stance, circling around the corpse between them.
Crunch, crunch~
Seeing this, Ye Xingge frowned inwardly.
After all, their three-against-one assault had been broken until Yang Tuyan was the only one left. In a one-on-one fight, Yang Tuyan was certain to die.
Yet even in these circumstances, Yang Tuyan remained steady as a mountain and chose to advance, which meant he still had strength to spare.
Ye Xingge did not know how his opponent could turn the tables from such a desperate position. Naturally, he remained on guard, keeping his eyes on the man's movements and looking for any variables that might arise.
And the variable did not keep him waiting long.
As the distance between them closed to roughly eight meters, Yang Tuyan suddenly drove his forward right foot into the soil.
Rustle~
The next instant, clods of earth and blades of grass flew up and scattered toward the golden wheat.
A saber's reach was no more than two meters. Attacking from eight meters away was clearly too early.
Sensing something wrong, Ye Xingge immediately pulled back to evade the flying dirt, but did not instinctively raise a hand to shield his eyes. Before the black earth reached him, he kept his gaze fixed on every part of his opponent's body.
After kicking up the dirt, Yang Tuyan had already stamped down with his left foot and driven forward. He crossed two meters in two strides, and the left hand guarding his chest suddenly flipped over. A glint of cold light flashed in his palm like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, and then:
Swish-
A long furrow was torn through the golden field in an instant, wheat heads and blades of grass whirling through the air like a horizontal tornado appearing from nowhere!
Boom-
Ye Xingge had been watching his opponent's body the entire time, but he had never expected Yang Tuyan to make no preparatory movement at all.
Holding that few inches of cold light, Yang Tuyan moved second but arrived first. He burst through the dirt he had kicked up and covered nearly five meters in a single rush, as though flickering through space.
Ye Xingge had already leaped back in time, his eyes never leaving his opponent for an instant. But by the time he saw clearly, Yang Tuyan was already within half a meter. Holding the short blade in a reverse grip like a venomous stinger, he drove into Ye Xingge's chest with a full-force stomp.
Swish-
This "instant-body strike," comparable to a flash movement, was the wondrous power of a famed weapon. An ordinary martial artist could never have defended against it.
If Ye Xingge had closed his eyes to avoid the dirt, he would undoubtedly have died on the spot. Even though he had discovered in advance that Yang Tuyan had strength to spare, all he could do was press down with his left hand with all his might. He did not even have a chance to pull back the saber in his right.
The thrust was far too swift. He pressed his left hand against the arm stabbing toward his heart, as though trying to stop an eight-ox crossbow with one hand. He forced it aside by only a few inches before the cold light pierced his gray robe and sank into flesh!
Pfft~
At that moment, Ye Xingge pulled back the saber in his right hand and swept it toward his opponent's neck.
Swish-
With Yang Tuyan thrusting with his left hand, the saber in his right could not possibly guard the left side of his neck. He immediately rolled forward and sideways, narrowly avoiding the decapitating slash while dragging the dagger across, trying to rip open his opponent's chest.
But Ye Xingge was inevitably turning to evade as he made his horizontal slash. As a result, the two brushed past each other at close quarters in the blink of an eye, then opened several paces of distance, drawing a line of blood droplets between them.
Rustle~
Tap, tap...
Yang Tuyan rolled away, crushing several meters of wheat, then sprang back to his feet in one fluid motion. He held his saber over his centerline, panting like an ox, veins bulging all over his body and his muscles visibly trembling.
His slash having missed, Ye Xingge had already retreated in great strides, opening more than ten meters between them. Only after confirming that Yang Tuyan was not pursuing did he glance at his chest.
Half his gray robe had been stained red, and a bloody gash had appeared along his left ribs.
But he had never let down his guard in the slightest, and he had evaded in time. The blade had not pierced his heart or injured his internal organs.
Still, he had no way to defend against such a thrust that defied all reason. What to do next was clearly a major problem.
Hongyu, who had been overseeing the work from the background all along, suddenly heard the unusual commotion, and her heart leaped into her throat.
"Ravine-Leaping Tiger. An instant kill in three steps, but it puts too much strain on the body for consecutive thrusts. How are you?"
Ravine-Leaping Tiger...
Ye Xingge frowned, feeling that something was not right.
Ravine-Leaping Tiger was one of the River-Spanning Pavilion's ten famed weapons. It had originally been in the hands of the grandson of Chu Hannu, who ranked eighth under heaven.
But at the beginning of the year, his grandson had met a violent death at the Dark Goods Wharf. The killer was the Gold-Chasing Gentleman, master of the Greedy Weapon · Fate-Robbing Saber.
The River-Spanning Pavilion had issued a three-dynasty kill order, but had yet to catch him, and the famed weapon's whereabouts had remained unknown.
Yang Tuyan was clearly not the Fate-Robbing Saber's master, so how had this dagger ended up in his hands...
No wonder he dared come to kill the emperor...
Though Ye Xingge could not fathom the reason behind it, the current situation was clearly not looking good.
His opponent had the River-Spanning Pavilion's divine assassination weapon to aid him. If he dared get close, his opponent only had to recover and strike once more, and he would surely die.
But if he fled, Yang Tuyan would surely escape. Without the wristguard that concealed heavenly secrets, the immortals of every stripe would soon come knocking at his door...
So I have to keep enough distance and kill this bastard...
Ye Xingge thought for a moment, then looked up and surveyed the golden plain. Finding no sign of anyone, he shifted the saber to his left hand and reached into his robes with his right.
Rustle, rustle...