The Legend of Shen Li (English Translation of Yu Feng Xing 与凤行)

Chapter 37 - The One in Green

Shen Li coolly eyed her adversaries. Everything about the three temple men exuded murderous intent: their fang-like teeth showed through their open mouths while saliva pooled and trailed down their lips, creating wet spots on the floor.

Shen Li glanced at the temple man that grabbed the blade of her spear earlier. The gash on his hand had already healed to the point the wound was no longer visible. He was monstrous, like the scorpion-tailed fox she had beheaded near the Ruins.

Shen Li knew they would attack soon when she sensed the change in the air. Her red-tasseled silver spear shook and suddenly flew and attacked the man in the middle. [notes]

He gave a cry of alarm, but it was no use; the attack was impossible to dodge and he was stabbed square in the face. He reached up to grab the spear.

Shen Li wasn't about to let him grab it like before. She was mentally prepared this time, so when he reached for it, she immediately somersaulted forward and twisted her body around to slam into him. This caught him off guard and allowed her to easily attack. She grabbed her spear and thrust it forward intending to chop his legs out from under him.

Although she used all her strength to strike, she failed to slice through his legs. All she heard was a solid metallic "Dhoom" as her spear vibrated from the impact. The vibrations were so strong it nearly broke the skin on her hand.

It was unimaginable to Shen Li that, despite using all her strength, her spear failed to cut through. It had accompanied her through scores of battles, across oceans and lands, and never failed her before. In shock, she flipped backwards, retreating to a safe distance with the spear in front covering half her face.

To be fair, the spear was originally made for stabbing, and not so much for cutting and slicing, however, Shen Li had had used it for so long that it had become imbued with her qi and become freakishly strong, capable of more than just stabbing. In fact, the shaft of the spear could even be used in place of the blade to behead a person.

But now she could see a see a small nick at the edge of the blade.

The other two didn't wait for Shen Li to gather her thoughts. They flanked her on both sides before rushing her like ravenous wild dogs.

She wanted buy some time to think of a strategy to defeat the men so she jumped up and perched on a beam out of their reach. She hadn't thought of a plan yet when a silhouette jumped up even higher. He had his hand out to hit her head, but she dodged it with a minor tilt of her neck. She grabbed his hand and poured qi into her grip. A loud cracking sound came from his hand as every bone broke.

He raised his head and gave a loud shout, leaving his center unguarded. Shen Li grabbed the opening and thrust her spear into his gut, but hard muscle prevented her from stabbing deeply. At this Shen Li shouted as well and rays of light glowed from her spear. It increased in intensity until with a "crack" and a "ploosh" her opponent's chest exploded, raining flesh and blood down onto the floor.

She shoved the rest of his body down, yanking her spear out as she did so. He fell like a boulder, crashing into the wall before falling to the floor and leaving a crater in his wake, finally dead.

Shen Li was gasping for air, but she had managed to take one man out. Before she could catch her breath, the two men below jumped up to her perch, with one on either side. She raised her spear in time to block an attack from one, but was smacked by the other. The force behind the hit was so powerful she was knocked off the beam and into the first dead man's crater.

The two jumped down and landed with a thud on the ground, raising a tremendous amount of dust and debris into the air. They couldn't see Shen Li since her body was complete obscured so they had to walk to the side to peer in.