We Agreed This Was a Game for Four

Ao Xiyu stared at the dark shape that had stopped beyond the shallows, clenching her teeth.

The reason she had been willing to give Yu Tunzhou a thirty-percent share was that luring this beast out was the most important part of the entire plan!

Once it reached the shallows, the beast would be a lamb waiting for slaughter. But underwater, even the three of them together were no match for it.

But now...

Ao Xiyu took a deep breath. All she could do was pray that Yu Tunzhou was tempting enough to the beast, enough to make it take the risk.

Come to think of it... what exactly did Yu Tunzhou have that made it covet him so?

Could it be that he had eaten so many Dragon Fish that it regarded him as a rival dragon species in the same waterway?

With the Spark Instruction past the sixth level, Yu Tunzhou's sense of Qi had grown even sharper.

In meditation, he knew the currents of water fortune and Qi in the river as clearly as the lines on his palm. He could even make out the paths of the underwater currents.

He could sense the approaching pressure suddenly stop ten meters away.

Had it sensed something amiss?

This thing really was quite intelligent.

Yu Tunzhou took a deep breath and stirred up the water fortune and Qi around the river to the best of his ability.

Not far away, the black Dragon Fish prowled silently beneath the surface, its golden eyes full of agitation. To it, hunting Yu Tunzhou was like an instinct. Instinctively, it had no desire to see this human grow stronger.

It had to nip him in the bud!

The next moment, instinct finally overcame caution. With the force of an overturned mountain and a surging sea, it locked onto Yu Tunzhou and shot straight at him, crossing more than ten meters in an instant!

"Retreat!"

Ao Xiyu, who had noticed this in advance, shouted a warning.

But Yu Tunzhou stared fixedly ahead. From the underwater currents, he could sense that the thing was still holding back. It had not fully taken the bait!

If he retreated now, it might stop or turn aside at the critical moment.

As everyone held their breath, the dark shape beneath the water finally burst through the surface and reached Yu Tunzhou almost instantly.

In Ao Xiyu's eyes, it was already wishful thinking for Yu Tunzhou to escape unscathed!

Under the impact, like a hundred-zhang waterfall plunging straight down, Yu Tunzhou spun in the water like a fallen leaf and was sent flying backward by the terrifying force.

"Attack!" Ao Xiyu sprang into action.

Xie Linchuan looked uncertain and alarmed. He glanced in Yu Tunzhou's direction, unsure whether Brother Yu had merely been grazed or had taken the beast's charge head-on.

He followed close behind Ao Xiyu. Together, they spread a fishing net across the giant fish's path of retreat and cast it over the creature.

The giant fish let out an angry roar, a beastlike bellow as muffled as thunder, but it could not break free of the net.

Realizing this, it twisted its body madly and crawled toward the river. Every struggle shook the net violently, and even the ground trembled slightly.

Xie Linchuan's expression hardened. His inner Qi erupted as he and Ao Xiyu hauled on the net, wrestling with the enormous creature.

Without either of them calling out, Cao Jianjia had already made her move.

A sliver of sword light pierced the night sky, cold and clear as frost, aimed straight at the giant fish's vital point three inches from the spot between its eyes.

Sensing the deadly threat, the giant fish twisted wildly, trying to evade the strike.

Gold blazed in Ao Xiyu's eyes, and the majesty of the dragon race revealed itself. But it only made the giant fish in the net freeze for an instant, and she stumbled back, spent.

Taking advantage of that instant, Xie Linchuan's arms bulged with veins and his face contorted, all trace of his usual bearing as a young master of an Aristocratic Clan gone. With a roar, he single-handedly hauled the Dragon Fish to a stop!

Cao Jianjia did not waste the chance the two had won her. Her gaze icy, she drove her sword precisely into the vital point Ao Xiyu had told her about.

Even with its divine nature concealed, the longsword still sliced through the false dragon scales like tofu, plunging into the fish and striking its vital point.

The black fish's roar cut off abruptly. Its massive body twitched a few times, then went still. Blood gushed out, staining the surrounding shallows red, with a faint golden hue.

Cao Jianjia withdrew her longsword. The blood slid instantly from the blade, leaving it spotless.

She put away the sword. Her expression was calm, though she was slightly pale. Clearly, that strike had consumed most of her strength as well.

"We did it!" Ao Xiyu could hardly conceal her delight.

Breathing hard and fast, Xie Linchuan turned toward where Yu Tunzhou had been sent flying. Two long drag marks stretched across the ground into the distance.

Fortunately, the somewhat pale figure was walking slowly back.

Yu Tunzhou had dodged at the last possible instant and only been grazed by the giant fish. Even so, the force had been immense. The fallen leaves and flowing water of that day had instinctively come to mind, and his body had drifted like a falling leaf, going with the current and dispersing most of the force. Even so, he had been sent flying dozens of meters.

Now, apart from the slight disorder of the Qi within him, he was actually in the best condition of anyone there.

Seeing Yu Tunzhou return unharmed, Xie Linchuan breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to him before turning his gaze back to the giant Dragon Fish.

Yu Tunzhou walked over and looked at the giant Dragon Fish, whose eyes had already lost their luster. He was filled with emotion.

A Dragon Fish that had lived who knew how many years and grown so formidable had still died so easily at their hands.

His gaze swept over the fishing net and the sword in Cao Jianjia's hand, and he felt wary.

So these are divine treasures?

The great sects and Aristocratic Clans truly had extraordinary foundations. They were not to be underestimated.

He looked at the giant fish again and could not help feeling excited. With this fish gone, even setting aside its own value, no one would stand in his way of ruling this river from now on!

"Are we carving it up here? Let me do it. I'm good at this," Yu Tunzhou asked, looking at the sword in Cao Jianjia's hand as if asking-

How about lending me your sword?

Apart from that sword, they really had no other weapon capable of piercing the Dragon Fish's defenses.

Cao Jianjia glared at him and was about to speak when her expression changed slightly.

Yu Tunzhou had noticed something amiss even earlier and abruptly looked toward the town.

Two figures, a man and a woman, stood a short distance from the river.

The young woman wore red, with slender eyes and brows and slightly upturned outer corners to her eyes. Yet rather than looking foxlike and seductive, she was more like a blade steeped in moonlight. She was smiling, but gave off a sense of danger, her beauty concealing a cold edge.

The other wore moon-white brocade robes and had a lean, upright figure and a high nose bridge. He had the scholarly air of a man of letters and a gentle bearing, but his eyes were too deep to fathom.

Xie Linchuan looked over, narrowed his eyes, and slowly called out their names:

"Zhang Buyu, since when did you become so close to Yue Hongyi of Moon-Worshipping Mountain?"

Yu Tunzhou recognized the first name. Xie Linchuan had mentioned him before.

Zhang Buyu, a disciple of Floating Hill Mountain, one of the great martial sects of the world and one of the ancestral seats of the Daoist School.

The red-clad young woman smiled. "Xie, aren't you keeping company with the Compost Sword Immortal of the Nanhua Sect yourself?"

Xie Linchuan remained calm. He looked in another direction and called out, "Since you're here, why not come out together?"

"Brother Xie, your senses are truly sharp. I thought I was skilled enough at concealing my breath."

A voice sounded in admiration, and a tall man strode over with the gait of a dragon and the steps of a tiger. His eyes shone, his vigor was abundant, and a fierce courage radiated from him.

Behind him was another young man, short in stature and accustomed to squinting at people. He too walked out smiling, his hands tucked into his sleeves.

"Thank you, all four of you, for helping us hunt down such a big fish."

"Chang Jian, Ji Pan..."

Ao Xiyu narrowed her eyes, her palm-sized face full of coldness.

"Just the four of you dare snatch food from a tiger's jaws? Do you really think you have us in the bag?"

With that, she clapped her hands.

Soon enough.

Another person emerged of his own accord from the shadows and stood a short distance behind Ao Xiyu. His face was hard and his gaze sharp, and the moment he appeared, he fixed his eyes on Ji Pan.

Ji Pan frowned, but soon relaxed.

That was more like it.

How could Ao Xiyu and the others have come unprepared?

Ji Pan suddenly smiled. "Thirteenth Sister, when did you call Liu Qingshi here? Did your other friends know beforehand?"

This was a ploy to sow distrust.

Ao Xiyu explained in a low voice, "He's my friend, Liu Qingshi of the Misty Clouds Grotto-Heaven. I agreed with him beforehand that if we didn't need him to act this time, I'd give him part of my thirty-percent share. But if we did need him to act, I'd put up five percent, and the three of you would contribute ten percent between you as payment for his help."

Yu Tunzhou nodded. The arrangement was not unreasonable. Whether this man had really come as a fallback, though, was doubtful.

Xie Linchuan nodded calmly. "A reasonable arrangement."

Then Xie Linchuan looked at Cao Jianjia, seemingly certain that she too would not be foolish enough to come without a backup plan.

Cao Jianjia snorted.

A figure familiar to Yu Tunzhou emerged from the woods.

It was Zhang Qinghe again.

With just four words, Cao Jianjia explained the situation clearly and earned the admiration of Yu Tunzhou and the others.

"He doesn't need a share."

Yu Tunzhou and the other two all turned to look. Even Liu Qingshi could not help giving her a strange look.

What was righteousness?

This was righteousness!

As for what each of them was thinking, only they themselves knew.

Yu Tunzhou, for instance, sighed inwardly that Zhang Qinghe really was a first-rate beast of burden.

It seemed that battle over his misstep would let Cao Jianjia order Brother Zhang around for half his life...

Zhang Qinghe snorted at the four people's reactions, too lazy to pay the four of them any attention. He took it upon himself to focus on Yue Hongyi, who was relatively weaker among the four opposite them.

Everyone present, except Yu Tunzhou, basically knew one another's backgrounds.

Zhang Qinghe knew very well that, apart from Yu Tunzhou, he was the weakest person there. Zhang Buyu, Chang Jian, and Ji Pan had surely all reached the sixth level of the Qi Ingestion Method, their inner Qi growing stronger as they ascended to a new stage.

Now.

With two more people on the scene, there were ten in all, including Yu Tunzhou and the other three.

For a moment, everyone fell silent, sizing one another up and weighing the new situation.

Xie Linchuan was not surprised at all by this, but he frowned. He felt there should not have been so many people here; they had kept their operation sufficiently secret.

Cao Jianjia and Ao Xiyu were not surprised either.

Only Yu Tunzhou fell silent.

We clearly agreed this was a game for four. How did it become ten?

So this is what the children of Aristocratic Clans are like?

With a complicated look, he swept his gaze over everyone present, finally looking at Xie Linchuan as if asking whether he had called anyone else too.

Xie Linchuan looked innocent, with a trace of helplessness. He indicated that Yu Tunzhou himself was the trump card he had kept hidden. Calling one more person meant giving away another share of the fish, so why bother?

Besides, he had not expected so many people to be hiding in the background.

By rights, there should not have been, unless someone stationed at the training ground had broken the rules...

But this was not the time to dwell on it.

Just then.

Zhang Buyu, who had come out first, said calmly, "There happen to be ten of us. Why don't we split it evenly, ten percent each?"

Cao Jianjia was pale, the earlier sword strike having taken a great deal out of her. Yet she still stood straight, leaning on her sword, and sneered. "There are six of us here now. What gives the four of you the right to split it evenly with us?"

"Six people?" Yue Hongyi shook her head with a smile. "Cao Jianjia, do you have the strength left to swing your sword a second time? And as for that gentleman?"

She looked at the inconspicuous Yu Tunzhou behind Xie Linchuan and raised her delicate brows, intrigued.

"Brother Yu, were you injured just now, or did cultivating the Spark Instruction backfire on you?"

"As for you, Ao Xiyu, if I'm not mistaken, you just used an innate Divine Ability of the dragon race, didn't you? Using a Divine Ability in this realm is hardly a good choice."

"And Brother Xie, your heroic bearing just now truly filled me with admiration. I just wonder how much inner Qi you have left?"

The woman had a sharp eye. She quickly assessed the condition of Ao Xiyu and the others, then finished with a half-smile.

"All told, the only ones among you still at full fighting strength are Brother Liu and the Zhang Household boy. The four of us together can crush you like rotten wood."

"Then you're welcome to try!" Cao Jianjia sneered and advanced instead of retreating.

The confrontation grew more tense, and the atmosphere heated up.

Even so, the four who wanted to be the orioles waiting behind did not rush to attack.

At last, Ji Pan suddenly said, "Brother Xie, did you call someone or not? If you didn't, we're going to make our move."

Chang Jian fixed a sharp gaze on Xie Linchuan and grinned fiercely. "A genius of the Northern Plains Xie Household, born with an exquisitely clever heart with seven openings-how could you be unprepared?"

He placed extra emphasis on the word "born," seemingly intending to provoke Xie Linchuan.

At that moment, everyone could not help looking at Xie Linchuan.

Liu Qingshi in particular knew that none of the four opposite them were easy opponents. He was only confident of dealing with one.

On their side, apart from him, it would be good enough if Zhang Qinghe could keep Yue Hongyi occupied.

As for the remaining three, in their current condition, dealing with Chang Jian and Zhang Buyu...

This was a fight they could not win!

Unless Xie Linchuan called out one more person.

Ao Xiyu, however, was not worried in the slightest. If she and Cao Jianjia could think of it, how could Xie Linchuan not?

Now it remained to be seen whom Xie Linchuan had called.

That one from the Jiang Household, or the Bao Household's "Bodhisattva"?

Xie Linchuan suddenly sighed.

Under the four opposing gazes, each different, he suddenly smiled.

That smile made Ji Pan frown and exhale softly.

Sure enough, a hard fight was still unavoidable.

The next moment, Xie Linchuan suddenly looked behind Ji Pan and Chang Jian and bellowed:

"Attack!"

Chang Jian and Ji Pan were both startled. Someone was hiding where they had come from?!

The two hurriedly turned to meet the enemy, only to find empty space behind them. Their expressions changed.

The instant they turned, a figure sprang out from behind Xie Linchuan. Having built up his strength until now, he had reached the eleventh turn of Refining Truth.

The country youth who had been standing behind Xie Linchuan all along, his face slightly pale, whom everyone had unconsciously overlooked, had now launched a surprise attack and reached Ji Pan.

He covered the remaining distance in four steps, two short and two long, in one fluid motion!

Taiji Iron Mountain Lean!

The one he had locked onto was Ji Pan, whom Xie Linchuan had indicated.

The hairs all over Ji Pan's body stood on end, and a chill ran down his spine. He turned in haste, but it was already too late to retreat. Nearly paralyzed with horror, he instinctively raised both arms across his body.

His face twisted as he looked at Yu Tunzhou. As long as he blocked this blow, with Chang Jian at his side, the fool who had dared to attack him out of nowhere would surely...

"Crack!"

The crisp sound of bone breaking rang out, grating in the quiet of the night.

For a moment, everyone seemed to see that enormous fish again, bursting from the water with the force of a hundred-zhang waterfall crashing straight down!

And Ji Pan became the Yu Tunzhou who had been swept away moments earlier. Only, he had not mastered the principle of Tai Chi's smooth, harmonious flow. Both arms shattered, he lost consciousness in midair and crashed backward like a kite with its string cut.

Chang Jian's pupils contracted sharply. He hurried backward, opening a safe distance.

Yu Tunzhou twisted his neck and stretched his somewhat stiff muscles and bones.

He turned to Xie Linchuan, pressed his lips together, and nodded.

"Brother Xie, there are only three left."