Book 12 - Chapter 6 – Hard Battle on the Mountain Top (1/2)

Book 12 Chapter 6 – Hard Battle on the Mountain Top

It was just before daybreak

Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong lay down in a sparse forest on the slope of a hill at the foot of the Shaoshi+ Mountain southeast of Luoyang On a distance down beloas the Ying River tributary, which was flowing at great speed

This was the place where they agreed to rendezvous with Ba Fenghan; about a li away, they had four short baed in certain position, which only the three of the to the exact location where the two boys were hiding

But Ba Fenghan has not showed up

Looking up to the vast sky full of stars, Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Under different circumstances, the entire heaven and earth is different Normally we did not have time to wholeheartedly look up to the sky The more I look, the more I realized that the way I looked at the sky previously was so careless”

Xu Ziling pointed to a cluster of brilliant rays on the horizon and said, “That is the Pleiades, a constellation ht stars; it is also known as the Seven Sisters”

A asked, “How do you know such a profound na said, “Everything is fro a couple ?”

“Is it possible for you to teachat the sky, I can show off a bit in front of other people!”

“One life ti replied, “What do I have that I cannot teach you?”

Kou Zhong was delighted, “I was always the one who said that; this is the first tihed and said, “Whether I say it out or not, what’s the difference? The fact is we are closer than brothers Back to the topic, if you want to recognize the stars, youline between distinct realht constellations Three walls are Zi Wei, Tai Wei and Tian Fu [sorry, I have no idea what these are: zi – purple, tai – grand, wei – ht constellations are the seven constellations on each direction: east, south, west and north, added together to ave a hollow laugh, “Hey!” he said, “I have enough for now Next lesson I’ll learn the position and na the subject, he said, “When we fought female demon Wan the other day, the victory and defeat only differed by a hairsbreadth Slight miscalculation and the one as injured and escaped would be us and not fe said, “If skills can be measured by scaled, female deether Yet obviously she was able to exploit all kinds of situations On top of that, ed, that she was able to toy with us in the pal me, Ol’ Ba’s sword may not necessarily be able to injure her”

Kou Zhong nodded in agreement “But Ol’ Ba’s sas definitely our of the ordinary,” he commented, “Even when it was plain as day that female deoing to be dawn soon, why hasn’t Ol’ Ba arrived?”

Finished speaking, he sat up

Xu Ziling still had his mind on the sky; he see looked around Suddenly his whole body shook as he pointed in the direction of the upper reaches of the Ying River

Xu Ziling akened fro up and soared like a shooting star toward the Ying River

When Xu Ziling arrived at the shore, Kou Zhong, with Ba Fenghan, whose right hand was still gripping the Beheading Mystery Sword, whose face was as pale as a dead person, in his boso took the sword fro!”

The two boys were shocked Carrying Ba Fenghan, they ran to the wilderness

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling took turn carrying Ba Fenghan on their back as they covered more than thirty li distance They ran in and out of the depth of the jungle On one hand it was to evade the people’s eyes and ears, on the other hand it was because there were , so that it would be difficult for the enemy to follow their track

By that afternoon, they really could not le more step, hence they looked for a cave to rest and to transfer their qi to help Ba Fenghan treating his injury

The innate true qi fro Life’ was indeed extraordinary; not even half a sichen later, blood was co up twoto flow freely He sighed and said, “This tiuys did not pull me out of the river in time, I a right now?” Xu Ziling asked in concern

Ba Fenghan let out a cold snort and said, “Although Qu Ao’s Ning Zhen Jiu Bian [lit condensed true nine changes] is formidable, it still failed to take my life I only need three more sichen, plus with your help, I will be able to recover fully”

And then he added in distress, “I still don’t understand how he could keep up with me; but it was obvious that in his rush, he had consuy, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to use the cliff to add more distance between us, and also to use the water to escape”

“Let’s talk about it later!” Kou Zhong said, “Right noe can only ask the deities and pray to Buddha that within these three sichen Qu Ao won’t be able to find us here; otherill be in big trouble!”

※ ※ ※

Minute bytook turns in transhan to heal his injury and to stand guard outside the cave

Into the evening, it was Xu Ziling’s turn to keep watch outside He selected a craggy boulder nearby to sit, from which he could monitor the entire ht

In the beautiful scenery under the setting sun, he enjoyed the steep cliffs and towering peaks, and the Ying River flowing between the two mountains, the lush water plants on the river, and the dark reflection of the dense green vegetation on the surface of the Ying River, in stark contrast to the red mountain and crystal-clear water

Three sailboats had just entered the periphery of his vision; the floater, rapid current, dark-green and bluish-green forest, in this instant the ti

The onesand the entire perilous peaks spread out over the mountain and fields, while the water seemed tohad no worry no delight; it was just a plain of quietness

His entire sphere of thought ide open The true qi inside his body spiraling and surging The exhaustion frohan’s injury ept away

No one kno much time had passed, the sun already disappeared beneath the western hills, a burst of night breeze blew his way, carrying with it the sound of the sleeve brushi+ng against the wind

Without the slightest trepidation in his heart, Xu Ziling slowly closed his eyes

The approaching person was getting closer and closer Just by listening to his speed, Xu Ziling knew that if it was not Qu Ao, then he must be a martial art master of the pinnacle of perfection like Wanwan or her caliber

With a long, clear whistle Xu Ziling soared into the air and landed arowing on the slope of the hill below, to the shock of the nule’ Qu Ao, who had just stepped his feet on the slope that he stopped suddenly

Qu Ao was tall and thin, but giving the iht as a ra exposure to the sun, his face long like a goat’s, but it ell-defined, clear and powerful, like a statue carved with knife, which fit very ith his pair of sharp eagle or falcon-eyes His overall i

Only fro already knew that he was a vain and selfish, sinister and deceitful person This kind of person would consider himself as the center of the universe, someone who seee to wantonly go on the rae