Lucky for Song Qingshu that he was a direct-line disciple of Wudang; he knew all the subtle changes of Yu Lianzhou's hands and feet movements. However, fighting in such a pace was actually the first time for him.
The yellow dust on the field rose upward, becoming a thick fog enveloping these two men. Suddenly there was a loud bang as two palms collided. Both Yu Lianzhou and Song Qingshu leaped backward at the same time. The cloud of dust was divided. Before he was even standing firmly, with a monkey-like agility Yu Lianzhou had jumped forward again.
Yin Liting was concerned over his Shixiong's safety. He could not help standing by the field with his hand on the hilt of his sword and his unblinking eyes trained on the battle in the field.
By now, Song Qingshu felt as if he was treading on the fine line between life and death. He fought with everything he had. He did not even think of using other school's martial art any longer; all he could use was Wudang Pai martial art, which he trained since his childhood.
Yin Liting was very familiar with these two men's punching and kicking style; he knew that each stance was meant to take the opponent's life. Hence, his anxiety far surpassed of those who were merely spectators. Fortunately, he noticed that Yu Lianzhou gradually gained the upper hand. He would have hacked him dead early on if he did not guard against Song Qingshu's malicious and ruthless five-finger piercing stance, hence being somewhat cautious.
Zhang Wuji was also quite worried. Secretly he grabbed two Sheng Huo Ling tablets in his pocket. If Yu Lianzhou's life will be in danger, he would disregard the general assembly's rule by dashing out and save him.
The cloud of dust was growing higher. Suddenly Song Qingshu stretched out his left hand with his five fingers spread out to claw Yu Lianzhou's right shoulder. For the last hundred stances or so, Yu Lianzhou had been waiting for Song Qingshu to launch this stance.
Yu Lianzhou had clearly seen the way Song Qingshu used his claw to kill the two elders of the Beggar Clan. If there were no previous fatal example, Yu Lianzhou would have been taken by surprise by this kind of fierce and killer stance. Although he might not die, but he would certainly be seriously injured. However, since he had seen this stance, he had prepared beforehand how to deal with it. On the other hand, Song Qingshu had not practiced this claw technique long enough; his movement did not have too many variations. His movement this time was almost the same to the previous ones.
Yu Lianzhou made a slight shoulder movement to evade. His left hand made several circles in the air.
"Ah!" Zhao Min and Fan Yao could not bear not to exclaim together, because Yu Lianzhou's circles were exactly the 'luan huan jue' of Taijiquan Zhang Wuji taught Fan Yao earlier.
As Zhao Min and Fan Yao watched this, they knew Song Qingshu was in a very bad moment. Before their 'ah!' exclaim was even finished, the five fingers of Song Qingshu's right hand had arrived at Yu Lianzhou's throat.
Zhang Wuji was enraged. "He deserves to die! He deserves to die!" he muttered under his breath. The Beggar Clan's Zhi Fa Zhanglao lost his life under this claw. Unexpectedly Song Qingshu was brazen enough to use this malicious hand toward his own martial uncle.
But he saw that one of Yu Lianzhou's arms made a circle, while the other arm revolved in the 'zuan fan' [drilling/boring movement] and 'luo xuan' [corkscrew turn] stances from the 'liu he jin' [six gathering strengths] style. Yu Lianzhou's arms coiled around Song Qingshu's arms. 'Crack! Crack!' Song Qingshu's arm joints broke.
"Qidi [seventh (younger) brother] is avenged today!" Yu Lianzhou roared.
Joining his arms together, Yu Lianzhou continued striking both of Song Qingshu's ears with the 'shuang feng guan er' [a pair of wind piercing the ears]. It was an attack where the 'soft' power was focused into one target. Song Qingshu's skull disintegrated immediately. But before his body even fell to the ground, Yu Lianzhou gave him a powerful kick. Obviously, he wanted to finish Song Qingshu on the spot.
Suddenly a dark green shadow flashed by; a long whip threatened Yu Lianzhou's face. Hastily he leaped back to evade. But with an unimaginable speed the long whip kept threatening his face. It was none other than the Emei Pai's Sect Leader seeking revenge for her husband.
Yu Lianzhou hurriedly took three steps backward. Zhou Zhiruo's whip technique was truly out of this world; in just three stances Yu Lianzhou was surrounded by the whip. Suddenly the flexible whip shook and coiled back. Zhou Zhiruo caught the tip of the whip with her left hand and coldly said, "If I take your life right now, you will be dissatisfied. Unsheathe your weapon!"
'Shua!' Yin Liting drew his sword out. He stepped forward and said, "Let me receive Miss Zhou's instruction."
Zhou Zhiruo stared at him with cold eyes; she turned around to look at Song Qingshu's injury. His eyes were closed, blood flowed out from is seven orifices, he laid down on the ground, paralyzed. It looked like his life could not be saved. Three male disciples from Emei Pai rushed forward and took him back to their shelter.
Zhou Zhiruo turned back and pointed at Yu Lianzhou and said, "I'll kill you first. Killing the one surnamed Yin later will not be too late."
Yu Lianzhou had exhausted his entire strength just now yet he was unable to escape from her whip's encirclement. He was inwardly shocked. He loved his younger martial brother. He thought, "If I fight her, even though I might die under her whip, at least Liudi [sixth (younger) brother] would have a chance to see her whip technique. My only hope is that his chance of survival will be increased by several points."
Reaching behind his back, he wanted to take over Yin Liting's sword. Yin Liting also realized the mortal danger they were facing. Even with the two martial brothers' level of martial art skills, the chance of them escaping her long whip's strike seemed very remote. Both he and his Shixiong had the same intention; he also wanted to fight her first, so that Shixiong would have a chance to find the gist of her whip technique. Thereupon, he was unwilling to hand his sword over.
"Shige [martial (older) brother]," he said, "Let me have a go first."
Yu Lianzhou turned his gaze to him. They had been training in the same school for dozens of years. They had a very close relationship with each other; as close as blood brothers. That moment, deep emotion surged up his breast; his thought flashed back and forth like lightning. He remembered Yu Daiyan was crippled, Zhang Cuishan killed himself, Mo Shenggu died a tragic death. From the Wudang Seven Heroes, only four left. It seemed like two more heroes would lost their lives in this place. Although Yin Liudi was strong in martial art, emotionally he was very weak. If he died first, Yin Liudi's mind would take such a blow that he might be unable to fight an all out battle.
"If I died first," he carefully considered, "Liudi would have to go through countless difficulties to avenge me, while he himself would not want to escape alive alone. In the end, the two of us, martial brothers, would unavoidably die together in vain. If he died first, I would have a chance to understand the essence of this woman's whip technique, and then perhaps I could fight her with all I have and die together with her." Thereupon he nodded and said, "Liudi, try to hold your ground as long as possible."
Remembering his pregnant wife, Yang Buhui, Yin Liting could not help but taking a glance toward Yang Xiao and Zhang Wuji. But immediately he rebuked himself, "After I die, other people will certainly take a good care of Buhui and the child; why would I act like a weak woman by asking others to help?" Thereupon he raised his sword, his eyes focused on the sword, his mind cleared of other matters, his back straightened, his chest puffed out, his shoulder relaxed and his elbows hang loosely.
"Zhang Men Ren [sect leader], please grant your instructions!" he said. Although he was a lot older than Zhou Zhiruo, at this moment, Zhou Zhiruo was the Sect Leader of Emei Pai. He did not want to show the least bit of disrespect.
Noticing that Yin Liting was using the 'Taijijian' [Taiji Sword] to face the opponent; Yu Lianzhou knew that his sixth brother was prepared to unleash the full potential of their school's most powerful skill to contend with the most powerful enemy. He slowly retreated from the arena.
"You may start!" Zhou Zhiruo said.
Yin Liting thought that the opponent's movement was lightning fast. If he let her took the initiative, he might never be able to regain his momentum. Thereupon as his left foot took a step, he switched the sword to his left hand, and launched the 'san huan tao yue' [three rings around the moon]. This first stance was a mixture of truth and deceit; the sword in his left hand lunged toward the enemy, the blade flickered with rays of light, 'swish, swish, swish', the sword produced light swishing noise. The crowd of heroes broke into an earth-shattering applause.
Zhou Zhiruo turned her body sideways to evade; Yin Liting followed with 'da kui xing' [the Great Bear Constellation] and 'yan zi chao shui' [swallow hunts over the water]. His sword drew a big circle in the air, his right hand pierced straight forward, surprisingly, it also carried light 'swish, swish, swish' noise.
Zhou Zhiruo swung her slender waist like a pendulum, dodging the attacks one by one. "Yin Liu Xia," she said, "I gave you three stances to repay your kindness on Mount Wudang in the old days." As the last word came out of her mouth, the flexible whip in her hand shook like a cobra and struck directly into Yin Liting's chest.
Yin Liting quickly evaded to the left; but the whip changed its course midway and curved toward him. Yin Liting countered with 'feng bai he ye' [the wind sweeps lotus leaves]. His sword pared down. The whip and the sword collided, creating a light scratching noise. Yin Liting felt a burning sensation on the palm of his hand; the sword nearly fell off.
He was greatly shocked. "I thought her stances were strange but her internal energy was in par with mine," he mused, "Who would have thought that her internal energy is also strange beyond measures." Refocusing his attention, he launched the Taiji Sword by creating random circles, generating an extremely tight defense around his body.
The flexible whip in Zhou Zhiruo's hand was like a string of soft silk thread, like a weightless object. Her body flashed to the east and to the west, dashed forward and backward, yet the whip was always fluttering around Yin Liting.
Zhang Wuji's amazement grew as he watched the battle. "The way she moves the whip is entirely different from Du E, Du Nan and Du Jie, three eminent monks." At first, he thought that Emei Pai still had some heretical martial art that he was unaware of, but as he watched she move with demon-like agility, which differed greatly from Mie Jue Shitai's movements, against his will, a vague feeling of fear crept into his heart.
Suddenly Fan Yao exclaimed, "She is a ghost, she is not a human!"
His words echoed what was in Zhang Wuji's mind that he shivered involuntarily. If he were not in the field where the sun was still shining brightly and people were standing all around him he would have thought that Zhou Zhiruo had died and her ghost picked up a whip and fought with Yin Liting.
In all his life, he had seen countless of strange martial arts, but Zhou Zhiruo's footwork and whip technique, which was like the wind blowing willow branch, or the water floating duckweed, was truly beyond anybody's imagination. In that moment, he felt as if he was awakened from a nightmare and was shivering from fear, "Could it be that she practices some kind of demonic skill? Or she is being possessed by some monster?"
Zhou Zhiruo's movements were strange, but Taiji Sword was developed from Zhang Sanfeng's Taijiquan [Taiji fist], which he created in his later years. It was the pinnacle of the sword technique, which came from the culmination of his life-long comprehension of martial art theory. Yin Liting unleashed his entire strength and skill into his continuous sword movements. Although he was unable to injure the opponent, his defense was flawless, enough to hold his ground.
Suddenly, someone called out with a strange voice and strange intonation, "Aiyo! Song Qingshu is about to breathe his last. Zhou Da Zhangmen [great sect leader], if you don't pay your last respect to your husband, you will considered a dishonorable widow!"
Everybody turned their eyes toward the voice. It was Zhou Dian. He knew that in their entire lives, Wudang disciples put great emphasis to the internal energy cultivation to control their breathing. In facing the enemy, they were like 'the Mount Tai collapsed in front of their eyes, their countenances would not change; an elk hit their left ears, their eyes did not blink.' So he intended to help Yin Liting by disrupting Zhou Zhiruo's attention.
"Hey, hey, Miss Zhou Zhiruo of the Emei Pai," he called again, "Your husband is about to die, he has some last words for you. He says he has three times seven, twenty-one, and four times seven, twenty-eight, illegitimate children outside. He wants that after he dies, you will take a good care of them, so that he won't die with open eyes. Will you or will you not consent to his request?"
As the crowd of heroes heard him blabber such nonsense, some of them could not help but snicker. But Zhou Zhiruo acted as if she did not hear anything.
"Aiyo," Zhou Dian called out, "It's too bad! Miejue Lao Shitai, how have you, Senior, been doing? Long time no see. You, Senior, has never looked better. Your spirit must have possessed Miss Zhou; the way she plays this flexible whip is indeed very attractive!"
Suddenly, Zhou Zhiruo's shadow flashed several 'zhang's backward. She lashed her long whip over her right shoulder. The tip of the whip curved up from the ground toward Zhou Dian's face. Initially she was more than a dozen 'zhang's away from the Ming Cult's thatched shelter, but just like a dragon swooping down from the sky, the flexible whip suddenly arrived at his face like an arrow.
Zhou Dian was happily blabbering with spittle coming out of his mouth. He did not expect in the middle of a fierce battle, Zhou Zhiruo was able to launch a sudden attack with her whip. As he was stunned, the long whip had already arrived at his face. Zhou Zhiruo did not even turn her head, but it was as if the back of her head grew a pair of eyes; the tip of the whip was pointing right on his nose.
As Zhou Zhiruo flung the long whip backward, two of her left-hand fingers repeatedly pierced toward Yin Liting. Within seven of such attacks, she had covered the entire vital acupoints on Yin Liting's head, face and the front of his chest.
Yin Liting was unable to attack the opponent. He also could not turn back his sword to pare her arm. With no other choice, he launched the 'feng dian tou' [nodding phoenix] by bending his knees to dodge the attacks.
In the meantime, from the Ming Cult's thatched shelter came a loud 'bang!' followed by a series of crashing noises. Turned out Yang Xiao, who was standing on the side, and had keen eyes and quick hands, hurled the wooden table in front of him to block Zhou Zhiruo's whip. As the whip struck the table, wooden splinters flew all over the place. The teapots and teacups on the table were also thrown to all directions, splashing hot tea to numerous people around them.
As her attack missed, Zhou Zhiruo no longer paid Zhou Dian any attention. Her flexible whip coiled back and stormed toward Yin Liting.
Holding the hilt of a sword in his hand, Yu Lianzhou had been standing on the side. But after watching for half an afternoon, he still could not predict the essence of her whip technique. "Even if I have to fight, in Taiji Sword technique I am not any better than Liudi [sixth younger brother]. But if the fight is prolonged, this woman's internal energy might be insufficient, and then relying on our resilience, we might score a victory."
He saw Yin Liting's sword going back and forth, opening and closing, the 'yin' and 'yang' elements intertwined with each other. Yin Liting was unleashing the instructions given by their benevolent master, Zhang Sanfeng to the fullest. He thought that in all his life he had never seen his Shidi [younger martial brother] unleash this kind of brilliant swordsmanship. Today, while facing a life and death situation, he was able to display the most refined of their school's sword technique. Wudang Pai's martial art paid particular attention to resiliency; the longer the fight, the stronger they were. The longer they were able to hold their ground, the greater the chance they would not get defeated.
Suddenly Zhou Zhiruo's long whip vibrated, creating circles, big and small circles, surrounding Yin Liting's entire body with these circles. Taiji Fist and Taiji Sword also based on transmitting strength through circles. Surprisingly, Zhou Zhiruo's long whip was also vibrating strength through circles. The rotational direction of the whip and Yin Liting's sword were the same, but the whip was several times faster.
As Yin Liting's sword was entangled by her whip, it lost its strength and did not want to follow its master's command. The sword was swirled several times and then a blue ray flickered as the sword was thrown upward. Zhou Zhiruo's long whip coiled down to smash the crown of Yin Liting's head.
Yu Lianzhou immediately jumped forward. His right hand caught the tip of the flexible whip. From inside her gown, Zhou Zhiruo's leg flew out, threatening Yu Lianzhou's waist.
From the start, Yu Lianzhou had always had difficulty predicting the direction of Zhou Zhiruo's whip strange movements. However, when he saw her shook the whip to create the circles and snatch Yin Liting's sword, it suddenly it dawned on him, "Turns out her skill is only mediocre. Her technique in vibrating the whip to make circles is far inferior to our Taiji Fist."
As he grabbed the tip of the whip, ignoring the attack toward his waist, his left hand struck Zhou Zhiruo's lower abdomen using the 'hu zhua jue hu shou' ['tiger claw disappears into the door' hand].
Zhou Zhiruo was unable to block. Like a lightning, this thought came into her mind, "I'll die under Yu Er Shu's [second (younger) uncle] hands today." Releasing the whip handle, the five fingers of her right hand came down on top of Yu Lianzhou's head, hoping that in her death, she would take Yu Lianzhou along.
Yu Lianzhou wanted to lean his head sideways to evade, but unfortunately, the 'tui hou xue' [lit. 'behind the leg' acupoint] on his waist was sealed by Zhou Zhiruo's kick that his neck stiffened and he could not turn his head. However, the strength of his left hand did not diminish.
At the time when both people's lives were hanging by a thread, someone suddenly darted in from the side; his right hand blocked Yu Lianzhou's 'hu zhua jue hu shou', his left hand stopped Zhou Zhiruo's fingers, which were about to pierce Yu Lianzhou's skull. It was Zhang Wuji who decided to save them.
Zhou Zhiruo combined the forces of her palms to strike Zhang Wuji's chest. If Zhang Wuji dodged the attack, this pair of palms would strike Yin Liting's face, therefore, he had no choice but parry her palms with his left palm.
As these two people's three palms struck each other, Zhang Wuji suddenly felt that Zhou Zhiruo's palms were void of any strength. Zhang Wuji was stunned. "Aiyo, not good!" he thought, "After fighting ferociously with Liu Shu [sixth uncle] for more than 200 stances, she is like a lamp which oil has dried up. If I continued sending out my strength, she would certainly die on the spot." In desperation, he hastily pulled back his strength.
When he sent out his left palm, he only knew that Zhou Zhiruo's martial art did not differ too much from his own, that she was a powerful opponent; therefore, he did not dare to be negligent. With one palm blocking two, he had sent his entire strength. As the force was just about to come out, he realized the opponent was devoid of any strength, so he hurriedly pulled back his power. He was well aware that by doing so, he had violated an important principle of the martial art theory. It was equal to attacking his own body with his entire strength. In addition, he needed to use more strength in order to pull back the outgoing power. Fortunately, he had reached a level where he could send out or pull back his power at will. This sudden withdrawal of his strength would only stop the flow of his 'chi' momentarily, but would not greatly harm him.
Unexpectedly, as he pulled his strength, he suddenly felt like a burst of flooding water breaking a dam, the opponent's strength surged into his body with an irresistible force. Zhang Wuji was greatly shocked; realizing that he had fallen into the enemy's trap. 'Bang!' his chest was squarely hit by Zhou Zhiruo's palms.
Zhang Wuji was stricken by his own strength plus Zhou Zhiruo's palm power. It was as if two martial art masters joined hands to attack him. Although his Jiu Yang Shen Gong protecting his body was profound, it was simply too much for him to bear. Much less, the power of Zhou Zhiruo's palms seized the opportunity to burst in when his defense line was wide open; right when his previous strength was pulled back and before the new strength was generated.
This technique was actually Emei Pai's specialty. In the past, Miejue Shitai had used it to strike him until he spurted blood and fell down to the ground. It was just that in the past, he was completely ignorant on how to withstand the attack. This time however, he misread Zhou Zhiruo's intentions and thus had fallen under the deceit.
Zhang Wuji was thrown backwards. His vision blackened and he spurted a mouthful of blood.
As Zhou Zhiruo's sneak attack succeeded, her left hand followed with five fingers aimed at the pit of his stomach. Zhang Wuji was heavily injured, but he had not lost consciousness. Seeing the claw was about to rip his throat and chest open, he strained himself to inch backward some more. 'Rip!' Zhou Zhiruo's claw scratched the front part of his clothes open, revealing Zhang Wuji's bare chest. Zhou Zhiruo's right hand claw swiftly followed.
At this moment, Yu Lianzhou's acupoint was sealed by her kick so he was unable to move. Yin Liting was some distance away so even though he pounced forward, he would be too late to save him. It looked like Zhang Wuji would not be able to escape this calamity.
As she was glancing down, Zhou Zhiruo suddenly saw a deep scar on his chest. It was the scar when she stabbed him with the Yitian Sword at the Brightness Peak. Her five fingers were less than half a foot from his chest, but mixed emotions suddenly surged up in her breast. Her eyes turned red and her claw stopped midair.
While she was hesitating, Wei Yixiao, Yin Liting, Yang Xiao, and Fan Yao, four people had already arrived. Wei Yixiao flew and blocked in front on Zhang Wuji. Yang and Fan, two people launched a converging attack from left and right. Yin Liting quickly grabbed Zhang Wuji and took him away.
The crowd around the field was thrown into chaos. Emei Pai disciples and Shaolin monks shouted and grabbing their weapons, and rushed into the arena. Yang Xiao and Fan Yao only fought Zhou Zhiruo for several stances before they stopped. Wei Yixiao helped up Yu Lianzhou, taking him back to their shelter. Emei Pai and Shaolin Pai also returned to their positions as they saw that the fight had ceased.
Zhao Min was actually also rushing into the arena, but her speed was inferior to that of Wei Yixiao, Yang Xiao, and the others. By the time she was halfway, Zhang Wuji was already carried back. As she saw blood seeping out from his mouth, she was so frightened that her face turned sheet-white.
Forcing a smile, Zhang Wuji said, "I am all right. I only need to circulate my 'chi' for a while."
Everybody helped him to sit in the shelter. At once Zhang Wuji slowly circulated his Jiu Yang Shen Gong to treat his internal injury.
Zhou Zhiruo called out, "Which hero will come up to grant me instruction?" Tightening his belt, Fan Yao went out in big strides.
"Fan You Shi," Zhang Wuji quickly called out, "Listen to my order: you must not fight. We ... we admit defeat ..." As he opened his mouth, he vomited two more mouthful of blood.
Fan Yao did not dare to defy his Jiaozhu's order. Supposing he insisted on fighting, he would inevitably make Zhang Wuji's injury worse. Besides, even if he fought with everything he had, he might only deliver his life in vain without any advantage to their own Cult.
Standing in the middle of the field, Zhou Zhiruo asked two more times.