state, although she heard what they were saying, she was for the time being, unable to grasp the meaning behind their words.
Zhao Zhijing chuckled a few times and said, “As practicing Taoists, we need to keep a clear mind, a slip in our thoughts will lead to evil. The reason I keep on mentioning Xiao Longnu is so that you will soon begin to hate and detest that name. I’m just helping you to adhere to the Taoist teachings.”
Zhen Zhibing said quietly, “She’s a celestial being, how can I hate and detest her?” Suddenly he raised his voice and said, “Don’t try to paint a pretty picture of what you are doing; do you think I’m blind to your ill intentions? One, you are jealous of me and two, you hate Yang Guo, you want to reveal this to everyone so that the two of them will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.”
When Xiao Longnu heard the name ‘Yang Guo’, her heart skipped a beat. Quietly she repeated, “Yang Guo, Yang Guo.” As she said these words, she was filled with a tender feeling and hoped that the two would keep on talking about Yang Guo. As long as someone mentions his name, she would be happy.
She listened on and now heard it was Zhao Zhijing’s turn to raise his voice. He said with hate, “I won’t rest until I teach that bastard a good lesson, humph, it’s just that…”
Zhen Zhibing said, “It’s just that his martial arts are too high, neither you nor I are a match for him, right?”
Zhao Zhijing said, “That’s not definite, what’s so special about his evil sect’s unorthodox martial arts? Once he’s in my hands… ha-ha! Our Quanzhen sect’s martial arts are the orthodox way, why should we be afraid of that scum? Apprentice brother Zhen, just you watch, I’m not going to let him die easily. I’ll break an arm here or a leg there; I’ll make him wish that he was dead. How wonderful it would be if that Xiao Longnu were there to watch him suffer.”
Xiao Longnu trembled as she heard this; if it was at any other place and time, she would have flown through the window and killed the two with one strike long ago. But now, her despair had completely overwhelmed her; her body felt as if it was no longer under her own control.
She heard Zhen Zhibing laugh coldly, “You can believe what you want. Our sect’s orthodox arts may not be able to compete with their so called unorthodox martial arts.”
Zhao Zhijing shouted, “You dog, you Quanzhen traitor! You even praise that Xiao Longnu’s martial arts to high heaven!”
Zhen Zhibing has been under this torrent of abuse long enough and could take it no longer, he shouted, “Why are you insulting me? You must know when you are pushing your limits!”
Zhao Zhijing knew that his opponent could do nothing to him. If this matter were leaked back amongst the sect, the previous sect leader Uncle Ma and the current leader Uncle Qiu will surely sentence him to death. That was why he had been handing out insults to him day and night. Zhen Zhibing indeed did not retaliate. Now, he could tell that Zhen was actually showing signs of rebelling. If he didn’t make sure that he was in complete control, it would be difficult for his great plan to succeed, so he took a step forward and sent out a palm.
Zhen Zhibing had not thought that he would actually resort to violence; he lowered his head quickly but the palm struck him heavily on the back of his neck, almost sending him to the floor. Enraged, he unsheathed his sword and thrust it forward. Zhao Zhijing moved his body out of the way and laughed, “Oh, so you’ve actually got the gall to raise your sword against me.” He unsheathed his own sword and replied with a stroke of his own.
Zhen Zhibing lowered his voice and said, “I’m going to die sooner or later under this constant torment of yours anyway, I might as well get it over with and let you kill me today.” He hurried his sword strokes and pressed his opponent. He was Qiu Chuji’s strongest student, so he and Zhao Zhijing’s martial arts both had their strong points. They both learned the same stances so once a fight started between the two, it would be difficult to tell who was going to be the winner. But Zhen Zhibing had made up his mind. All he wanted was to take his opponent down with him while Zhao Zhijing had something else planned and wasn’t going to take his life. Twenty or thirty stances later, Zhao Zhijing had been forced into one of the corners of the room and was losing.
The two’s struggle had been reported by a Beggar Clan member to Guo Fu. Guo Fu dressed hurriedly and rushed to the scene to see Xiao Longnu standing outside. She called out, “Miss Long!”
Xiao Longnu’s mind was somewhere else and she did not hear her.
Guo Fu was curious and so decided not to enter immediately. She too stood outside the window only to hear Zhao Zhijing coming out with derisive comments between his swords strokes. Every single comment related to Xiao Longnu.
When Guo Fu heard their words becoming more and more inappropriate: she decided to move away from the window. When she turned her head to move away, she caught a glimpse of a disorientated Xiao Longnu. It appeared that she did not take offence at what the two were saying; Guo Fu became extremely curious and quietly asked, “Is what they’re saying true?”
Xiao Longnu nodded her head and said, “I don’t know, maybe… maybe its true.”
Feelings of condescension towards Xiao Longnu gathered inside Guo Fu and she left with a snort and did not turn back.
During the fight, Zhen and Zhao both heard someone talking outside their room; after a clashing of weapons, the two separated and leapt back and both asked at the same time, “Who’s there?”
Xiao Longnu said slowly, “Me.”
Zhen Zhibing trembled all over and asked with a shaking voice, “Who’s me?”
Xiao Longnu replied, “Xiao Longnu!”
Once those three words came out, not only did Zhen Zhibing freeze, Zhao Zhijing did so as well. That day at the Heroes’ Feast of Da Xingguan, just one stance of hers allowed her to place a palm on his chest; the resulting injury was serious and it took him days to completely recover. There was no way he could defend himself against her. He could never have guessed that Xiao Longnu would be in Xiangyang as well; all the insults that he had just said were most likely heard by her. He was scared witless and was thinking, “How am I going to get out alive?”
Zhen Zhibing was shocked as well but he was not thinking about how to escape, instead, he stretched out his hand and pushed open the window. Beside the flower bushes stood a silent, somber girl in white; it was the person who had filled his thoughts during the day and his dreams at night, the most enchanting girl in the world, Xiao Longnu!
Zhen Zhibing replied in disbelief, “It’s you?”
Xiao Longnu replied, “Yes, it’s me. What you two said just now, is it true?”
Zhen Zhibing nodded his head, “Yes! Just kill me!” He turned his sword towards her and handed it to her through the window.
Xiao Longnu’s eyes lit up, her sorrow had reached its peak, her anger had met its limit, she felt that even if she killed a thousand people, or even ten thousand, she would no longer be the pure and chaste girl she once was. She could no longer love Yang Guo as deeply as she did before. When she saw the sword through the window, she did not take it and just looked at the two of them with uncertainty. She really could not decide on what to do.
Zhao Zhijing saw his chance had come, the girl seemed lost in her mind right now, if he doesn’t take this chance to escape, when could he? He grabbed Zhen Zhibing’s arm and said with a snicker, “Let’s go, let’s go now, it looks like she can’t bear to kill you!” He pulled hard and staggered out of the door. Zhen Zhibing’s mind was completely elsewhere, his body put up no resistance and he followed. Zhao Zhijing utilized his lightness kung fu and ran. Zhen Zhibing had allowed himself to be pulled by him but after a few li, he himself started to use his own lightness kung fu. Both of them had begun practicing martial arts before Guo Jing had started. As soon as they put effort into it, they soon arrived at the gates in the eastern part of the city.
There were a few Beggar Clan members patrolling the area by the gates. The leader of the group recognized the two and knew they were eminent members of the Quanzhen sect. When it came to status, they were Guo Jing’s peers. When he heard Zhao Zhijing say that they had to leave the city due to urgent business, he immediately allowed the gates to be opened. The gates were opened just wide enough for one person to exit and the two of them rushed out of the city at once. The Beggar Clan member praised, “Excellent lightness kung fu!” Just as he was about to close the gates, a white blur passed his eyes, it seemed that someone else had left the city. In shock, he said, “What?” The person was long gone. As he went to the take a look from the gates, the dawn was just breaking, he could only see within sixty or seventy feet, so how could he see who was there? He turned around to ask the others but no one saw anything. He narrowed his eyes and cursed, “Must have been a ghost!” He had been working tirelessly the past few days; it must have been his eyes playing tricks on him.
Zhen and Zhao did not dare stop and only after running a few li from the city did they slow their steps. Zhao Zhijing used his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead and called out, “Damn, that was close!” He turned around and looked back. His knees went limp and he nearly fell to the ground. What he saw, about a hundred feet behind them, was a girl in white, looking at them fixated. If it wasn’t Xiao Longnu, who else could it be?
Zhao Zhijing was frightened at what he saw, he let out a ‘no’. He had thought that they had left her behind long ago, but who knew that she was following behind them without making a sound; he himself did not notice it. He immediately grabbed Zhen Zhibing’s arm and ran.
He ran over one hundred feet in one breath but when he turned his head back once again, Xiao Longnu was still in sight, following closely behind them with a gap of around thirty or forty feet between them. Zhao Zhijing did not know what to do; he just lowered his head and ran with all his might. He did not dare to keep on checking whether Xiao Longnu was there or not because each time he did, his heart would suffer a shock and his legs became weaker as a result. He said, “Apprentice brother Zhen, she could kill us right here right now if she wanted to, she must be up to something.”
Zhen Zhibing asked in confusion, “Up to something?”
Zhao Zhijing said, “From what I can tell, it looks like she wants to capture us and then reveal what you did in front of the world’s heroes. This will ruin the reputation of the Quanzhen sect forever.”
Zhen Zhibing’s heart skipped a beat, he no longer cared about his life, if Xiao Longnu wanted to kill him, he would not retaliate. He had been in the tutelage of Qiu Chuji since he was young and he loved his teacher; he couldn’t let the reputation of the world renowned Quanzhen sect be tarnished by his hands. As he thought about this, his spine broke out in a cold sweat. He increased his efforts and ran shoulder to shoulder with Zhao Zhijing.
The two picked pathless grounds to run through. Sometimes, they would take a peek back but still, Xiao Longnu would still be there, just a few zhangs (1 zhang=3.3 meters / 10+ feet) away from them at all times. The Ancient Tomb’s lightness kung fu is unmatched in the world; following the two would not take much effort but she really did not know what she wanted to do. All she could do was to keep the two within her sight.
The two of them had already been frightened and confused when they first saw Xiao Longnu, but after seeing her follow them like a shadow, they couldn’t help themselves from conjuring up worse and worse scenarios as to what Xiao Longnu was planning for them. They became even more frightened. From dawn to noon, and from noon to the afternoon, running ten or so hours like this non-stop was something the two could not keep up even if the two had profound internal energy. They were out of breath and struggling and were now a lot slower than before. It was deep into the day and the air was hot and the two were soaked in sweat. After a while, the two were hungry and thirsty. They soon came to a brook and thought, “Even if I get captured, I can’t do anything about it.” They threw themselves down beside the brook and drank.
Xiao Longnu strolled casually to the brook and she too took a few mouthfuls of water. In the crystal clear running water of the brook was an image of a girl in white, a picture of beauty, an image of the Ling Bo Goddess. Xiao Longnu’s heart felt empty and she forgot about her state of mind for the moment and plucked a flower from the brook’s bank. She placed it into her hair above her ear and stared at the reflection in the water, her mind a blank.
The two men were drinking and glancing over at her at the same time. Seeing that it appeared that she was preoccupied by something else and looked as if she had completely forgotten about her intentions, the two signaled to each other with their eyes and quietly got up. They silently made their way behind Xiao Longnu and moved away slowly. After looking back a few times to see her still standing by the brook, the two quickly sped up their steps and ran. Not long after, they came to a main road.
The two of them thought that this time, they’d finally managed to escape her; but Zhen Zhibing took a glance over his shoulder and saw otherwise. Xiao Longnu was still following them.
Zhen Zhibing’s face became grey and called out, “Alas, it’s no use! Apprentice brother Zhao; just let her do what she wants!” He stopped running.
Zhao Zhijing was furious and shouted, “You deserve to die; why should I die with you?” He pulled his arm to take him with him but Zhen Zhibing did not want to run anymore. Zhao Zhijing was frightened and angry at the same time; he raised his palm and struck his face.
Zhen Zhibing said angrily, “Hitting me again?”
Xiao Longnu felt that it was extremely odd when she saw the two of them suddenly start to fight once again.
Right at this time, two horses came galloping towards them. The riders were Mongolian dispatchers. A thought came into Zhao Zhijing’s head and he quietly said, “Snatch the horses! We’ll pretend to fight but don’t let Xiao Longnu know what we are going to do.” He then chopped forward with a palm. Zhen Zhibing raised his arm to block and sent out a palm of his own. Zhao Zhijing took a few steps back and the two gradually moved towards the centre of the road. With the road blocked, the Mongolians reigned in their horses and shouted. Zhen and Zhao suddenly leapt up and pulled the Mongolians to the ground. They then mounted the horses and galloped north.
Both these horses were top class steeds and they galloped with great speed. When the two turned back to see that Xiao Longnu was no longer behind them, they finally managed a sigh of relief. After traveling over thirty li (15km / 9+miles) or so, they reached a three-forked road.
Zhao Zhijing said, “She saw us head north, we’ll change directions and head east instead.” He pulled his reigns to the right and they headed along the easterly road. By nightfall, they had reached a small town.
After running all day, the two were extremely tired and hungry. They immediately found a restaurant and ordered a plate of beef and a few jin (grams) of pancakes.
Zhao Zhijing sat down and calmed himself. But fear still lingered in his heart as he recalled the day’s events. Xiao Longnu had been following them all day yet why had she yet to make a move on them? Zhen Zhibing’s face was grey as ash, his head was lowered and it seemed that his mind drifted away. The beef and pancakes soon arrived but just as they were picking up the chopsticks to eat, sounds of horses neighing and people shouting arose from outside the restaurant.
Someone shouted, “Who do those horses belong to? Why are they here?” There was a Mongolian accent behind those words.
Zhao Zhijing stood up and went to the entrance. He saw a Mongolian Sergeant with a group of seven or eight soldiers pointing at the horses that Zhao Zhijing and Zhen Zhibing had ridden. The waiter at the restaurant was frightened and bowed to the Mongolian as he said, “Sir…Sir!”
Zhao Zhijing’s anger had been building up all day after being chased by Xiao Longnu, he longed for a release to his tension; when he saw the Mongolians, he immediately went up to them and shouted, “The horses belong to me! What about it?”
The Sergeant said, “Where did you get them from?”
Zhao Zhijing said, “They’re mine! What is it to you?”
By this time, all the land to the north of Xiangyang had fallen into Mongolian hands, all the Han were being oppressed by the Mongolians. Who would dare raise their voice to a Mongolian like this? The Mongolian saw that Zhao Zhijing looked a bit shifty and he had a sword at his waist, he was suspicious of him and said, “Did you buy them or steal them?”
Zhao Zhijing shouted, “What are you talking about? I reared these horses myself.”
The Sergeant signaled with his hand and ordered, “Get him!”
Seven or eight armed Mongolians encircled them.
Zhao Zhijing placed his hand on his sword handle and shouted, “What’s your problem?”
The Mongolian Sergeant laughed coldly and said, “Horse thief! You’ve really got guts, these horses belong to the Mongolian army, are you going to admit now?” He then went up to the horses and moved their tails to the side to reveal a Mongolian brand. All Mongolian horses had a brand on them to distinguish which camp they belong to. Zhao Zhijing stole these horses from some Mongolians, how would he know about this? When he saw the mark he became silent but continued to argue, “Who said they belong to the Mongolian army? I like to mark my horses, is that a crime?”
The Sergeant was furious; throughout his travels to the south he had never met such a brazen fellow. He took a step forward and reached out to grab Zhao Zhijing by his clothing. Zhao Zhijing bent his left arm and grabbed the Mongolian’s wrist. Then he sent out his right palm and grabbed the Mongolian from behind before lifting him up and swinging him around his head three times before throwing him. The Sergeant was tossed away and landed in a porcelain shop. Non-stop sounds of smashing were heard as shelves of porcelain plates and bowls came crashing down. The sharp debris sliced up the Mongolian Sergeant and he was bleeding all over. He was unable to get up amongst the debris. The other soldiers went to help him; some moved the shelves and debris away while others helped him up. They no longer cared about trying to capture the horse thief.
Zhao Zhijing laughed out loud and walked back inside the restaurant to continue his meal. However, all the towns shops had closed and were boarded up as a result of the clash and all the customers that were in the restaurant had long ago cleared out. Everyone thought that with the Mongolians’ malicious nature, surely they would be back to wash the town in blood. Zhao Zhijing had a few more bites of his food when the owner of the restaurant came up to him and suddenly dropped to the floor and started to bow to him. Zhao Zhijing knew that owner was afraid of the trouble that he would bring so he stood up and laughed, “Don’t worry, we’ve eaten enough, we’ll go immediately.”
The owner’s face became even greyer with fright and continued to bow to him.
Zhen Zhibing said, “He’s afraid that once we’ve left, the Mongolians will be back for us.” He had always been a thoughtful and a strong man; it was only because of his mad love for Xiao Longnu that led him to his actions. His method of approach to everyday problems surpassed Zhao Zhijing in everyway and it was because of this that Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others wanted to pass on the sect’s leadership to him. He suddenly had a thought and said, “Bring me the best food and wine, we’ll take responsibility for what we’ve done, why are you afraid?” The owner picked himself up and agreed compliantly before giving out orders to bring them food and wine.
The Mongolian Sergeant was injured pretty badly and had to be carried to his horse.
Zhao Zhijing laughed, “Brother Zhen, after what we’ve been through today, we’ve really got to let off some steam once we’re back.”
Zhen Zhibing gave a grunt and looked on as the Mongolians left. After steadying their nerves, everyone in the restaurant brought food and wine to them and filled up a table.
The two of them ate for a while when suddenly Zhen Zhibing got up and raised his palm, sending the waiter who was serving him to the floor. The owner was alarmed and quickly walked forward and smiled, “This idiot doesn’t know what he’s doing, please don’t get mad sir…” Before he finished, Zhen Zhibing had kicked out with his left leg and lightly kicked him to the floor.
Zhao Zhijing thought he had lost it and called, “Brother Zhen… you…”
Zhen Zhibing flipped a table and sent bowls and plates smashing to the floor before immediately sending another two waiters to the floor. He then sealed everyone’s accupoints before bringing his hands together and said, “When the Mongolians come and see you in this state, they won’t vent their anger on you, do you understand? You should add a few injuries here and there as well.” He then unsealed everyone’s accupoints.
They suddenly understood and thought is was a great plan. They then started to beat each other up and tear each other’s clothes, eyes were blackened and noses were bruised. Not long after, the sounds of hoofs from many galloping horses could be heard on the street’s pavement. Everyone in the restaurant fell to the floor and cried out, “No, please stop!” “Mercy…have mercy!” “Please sir, I beg you!”
The horses did indeed stop outside the restaurant. Four Mongolian soldiers entered and were followed by a tall skinny Tibetan monk and a short dark man. This dark man had both his legs removed and was supporting himself with crutches.
When the soldiers saw the state of the restaurant they frowned and shouted, “Hurry up and bring us some food, we’re in a rush.”
The owner was taken aback by this and thought, “So these guys are from another group. What am I going to do when those other soldiers get back?” Just as he was hesitating, some of the soldiers struck at his head with their horse whips. The owner took the blows and complied but struggled to get up. One of the other waiters served and set places for them.
The Tibetan monk was Jinlun Fawang; the short dark man was Nimoxing. That day, after both of them had fallen victim to the ‘Soul Freezing Needles’, the two of them struggled outside the cave and fell off a cliff. Luckily, the sides of the cliff had a large tree growing from it and Fawang managed to grab onto it just in time. Nimoxing was in a dazed state by now but he still clutched onto Fawang. Fawang took a look at his surroundings before he gathered his strength in his left arm and pushed; the two of them fell down towards the bushes at the bottom of the cliff. They rolled down a steep hill for around a hundred feet, only stopping once they’d reached the bottom of the valley. The two of them were scratched all over by thorns.
Fawang flipped over and used his minor grappling techniques on Nimoxing’s arm and shouted, “Are you going to release me or not?”
In his dazed state, Nimoxing had no more strength to resist Fawang’s pull; his left arm loosened but his right arm was still clutching onto the back of Fawang.
Fawang laughed coldly, “Your legs have contracted a lethal poison, why aren’t you trying to save yourself and instead still trying to struggle with me?”
These two sentences made Nimoxing look down at his legs. His lower legs had swollen up badly, if he didn’t do something about it soon, his life would be in danger. He clenched his teeth and took out the Iron Snake weapon from his waist and cut his lower legs off. Blood poured out copiously and he passed out. Fawang admired this steely behavior and now that he was a cripple and no longer a threat to him, he decided to help him. He sealed his knees’ ‘Crooked Spring’ accupoints and his thigh’s ‘Five Li’ accupoints to stop the bleeding. He then took out some medicine for external wounds and tore off Nimoxing’s outer garment to bandage his legs.
A lot of Indian martial artists have practiced pain resisting arts such as sleeping on a bed of nails or sitting on a seat of knives. Nimoxing was well versed in such arts and as soon as his wounds stopped bleeding he awoke and sat up saying; “Good, since you’ve saved me, we’ll forget all our past feuds.”
Fawang showed a bitter smile, “Though you’ve lost your legs, the poison in your body has been cleansed, but I’m still in danger.” So he sat down with his legs folded and circulated his chi, slowly forcing out the poison from his foot. It took him an exhausting two hours to force just a minute amount of the poison out.
The two of them rested in the remote valley for a few days. Fawang used his advanced internal energy to force the rest of the poison out and Nimoxing’s wounds no longer bled. Nimoxing made two crutches from some tree branches and the two made their way out of the valley. They soon came across a group of Mongolian soldiers and they made their way back to Khubilai’s camp. On the way back, they came across the same town that Zhen and Zhao were in.
When Zhao Zhijing and Zhen Zhibing saw Fawang, they looked at each other in shock. They both were present at the Heroes’ Gathering at Da Xingguan and saw Fawang demonstrate his amazing martial arts. Both remembered when his disciples Da’erba and Huo Dou attacked the Chongyang Palace years ago; even some of the Quanzhen Masters found them difficult to contend with. They were filled with fear of this encounter. The two signaled to each other with their eyes and wanted to slip away.
That day at Da Xingguan there were hundreds or thousands of heroes attending the gathering, Zhao and Zhen may have recognized Fawang but Fawang did not recognize them. Though Fawang saw that the restaurant was in a rough state, but since it was during a time of war, this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. This fruitless attack on Xiangyang that ended with defeat was not going to be his greatest moment in front of Khubilai. All he was thinking about at the moment was how to cover it up; he didn’t care about the Taoists who were eating their meal.
Just at this time, there was a commotion outside the restaurant, and group of Mongolian soldiers came bursting in. As soon as they saw Zhen and Zhao, they all roared and went forward to capture them. Zhen Zhibing saw that Fawang was sitting near the door, if they dashed out past him, most probably he would intervene so he said quietly, “Exit through the backdoor!” He pushed a table and bowls and plates, causing a sudden noise as they crashed to the floor. The two of them leapt back and ran towards the backdoor.
Just as he was about to make it to the backyard, Zhen Zhibing glanced over at Fawang and saw him holding a cup. Thinking to himself, “He’s ignoring what was going on in the restaurant.” He was delighted and thought, “He’s not going to interfere.” Suddenly, a black blur came at him; the short Western regions person had come and was waving his left hand, striking out at the heads of Zhen and Zhao with his crutch. Zhen Zhibing and Zhao Zhijing had never seen this person before, but seeing his swift movements and powerful attacks, they immediately lowered their shoulders and dodged to the side.
Hitting thin air, Nimoxing cried out ‘Oh’, these two Taoists weren’t weaklings and he was slightly surprised. He used his left crutch as a support and then attacked with his right crutch, blocking the Taoists path. The two of them unsheathed their swords and attacked from both sides, trying to force him back and make a path for an escape.
Though Nimoxing’s martial arts were stronger than that of Zhen and Zhao, he had lost his legs only just recently and had yet to fully recover. Fighting with his crutches against the two would require at least one crutch to remain on the ground at all times. A few stances later, he could no longer keep it up. Fawang walked forward slowly and saw Zhao Zhijing’s sword going for Nimoxing’s chest. Nimoxing raised his crutch to block the attack and as he did so, Zhen Zhibing went for his right side. This stance was extremely vicious, Nimoxing had to abandon his crutch and push back if he wanted to avoid it. Fawang took a stride forward and met with Nimoxing’s flying body; Fawang supported him with his left arm and then placed his right hand on Nimoxing’s arm. Nimoxing’s crutch and Zhao Zhijing’s sword had yet to separate at this point. Fawang transferred his internal energy through the crutch. Zhao Zhijing felt his arm shaking violently and half his upper body began to grow hot, a ‘dang’ sound was heard as he dropped his sword.
Nimoxing’s internal energy was lacking but his changes in stance were extremely swift. As soon as he saw Zhao Zhijing’s sword fall from his hands, he immediately swung his crutch towards Zhen Zhibing and trapped his sword. Fawang touched Nimoxing’s arm once again. Zhen Zhibing saw what had happened to Zhao Zhijing previously so he immediately circulated his internal energy to counter the attack. Fawang’s internal energy had both softness and hardness within, after a ‘kala’ sound, the sword broke, leaving Zhen Zhibing with a broken sword in his hand. Fawang lowered Nimoxing to the ground lightly and then stretched out his hands, placing them on the shoulders of the two. He smiled, “Why come to arms with strangers? With your martial arts, you two must be first class fighters of the central plains, why don’t we sit down and have a chat?”
There didn’t seem to be any malicious intent in his movements but once his hands touched them, the two could not move. All they felt was a