e cast away any hopes of living. He didn’t imagine that these two techniques from the Qingcheng sect and the Penglai sect could actually be executed together and allow him to evade those three vicious blows. The panic in his heart was far greater than even that of the members of the Qin family stronghold, or of the members of the Qingcheng sect.

He heard Wang Yuyan call out, “First execute ‘Han Xiangzi Embraces the Snow of the Blue Gate’, then execute the ‘Crooked Path Opens to the Netherworld’!” The first technique belonged to the Penglai sect, and the second belonged to the Qingcheng sect. Without even thinking, Zhu Baokun drew a circle in front of him using his mace and his awl in a defensive sealing movement. Just at this moment, Sima Lin and elder Meng thrust at him with their awls. The three of them had actually executed their attacks at the same time, but in the eyes of outsiders, it seemed as though Zhu Baokun had completed his defensive movement first, while Sima Lin and elder Meng, despite seeing his defensive movement and finding no flaws in his defense, still insisted on using a large amount of energy in a useless attack. Their two awls connected with his mace, and with a clanging sound, the two awls were flicked aside. Zhu Baokun didn’t hesitate at all, and immediately stooped down and launched a backwards piercing strike with his awl.

Elder Jiang was just about to strike him from behind. He never imagined that Zhu Baokun’s awl would strike at him at this moment, from this angle. The ‘Crooked Path Opens to the Netherworld’ technique belonged to the Qingcheng sect, and elder Jiang knew it by heart. Using the attack in such a manner was totally antithetical to the basic principles of Qingcheng sect martial arts. If Zhu Baokun, while practicing martial arts, had normally executed the technique in such a way, elder Jiang would have burst into loud laughter. But by using such an unreasonable attack, elder Jiang was put into a position where he was about to commit suicide, as he was rushing forwards with his body in line with the tip of the awl. He knew that he was in a disastrous position, but couldn’t retract his charging force in time. With a puffing sound, the awl pierced into his waist. His body swayed, and he fell to the floor. Two disciples of the Qingcheng sect ran forwards, grabbed him, then carried him away.

Sima Lin cursed, “Zhu Baokun, you son of a turtle, you just hurt martial-uncle Jiang with your own hands. You can’t claim this is false as well, right?” Wang Yuyan said, “I told him to hurt elder Jiang. Please, stay your hands!” Sima Lin angrily said, “If you’re really so capable, tell him how to kill me!” Wang Yuyan smiled. “Mr. Zhu, first use the technique, ‘Iron-Crutched Li Passes Through a Tunnel Into the Front Yard Beneath the Moon,’ then use the technique, ‘Iron-Crutched Li Discusses the Way in a Jade Cavern.’”

Zhu Baokun replied, “Yes!” He thought to himself, “Within the Penglai sect’s martial arts techniques, there are only the stances, ‘Lu Chunyang Passes Through a Tunnel Into the Front Yard Beneath the Moon’ and ‘Han Zhongli Discusses the Way in a Jade Cavern.’ How did Iron-Crutched Li get mixed up into this? Most likely, this girl’s understanding of our school’s martial arts technique still has its limits, and she misspoke.” But at this critical moment, Sima Lin and elder Meng definitely would not give him the chance to ask her to clarify. All he could do was use his normal techniques and execute ‘Lu Chunyang Passes Through a Tunnel Into the Front Yard Beneath the Moon’.

This technique, ‘Passing Through a Tunnel Into the Front Yard Beneath the Moon’, was originally meant to be executed by taking a large step forward, and was possessed of natural grace and elegance, as though someone were flying through the air. But after his left leg received two serious wounds, when he took a large step he was limping. How could he appear to be like Lu Chunyang? He looked one hundred percent like Iron-Crutched Li. But even though he was forced to limp forwards, he still received a great advantage from this motion. The two awl strikes which Sima Lin had just struck out with hit nothing but the air. Next, when he executed the ‘Han Zhongli Discusses the Way in a Jade Cavern’ technique, his left leg was still limping and his entire body was inclined towards the left. He used the mace in his right hand as a fan, sweeping it across his body. Just at this moment, elder Meng’s head came into contact with his mace. With a clapping sound, the mace hit him right in the mouth. Ten of his teeth were immediately knocked out of his mouth and fell to the floor. It was so painful that he yelled and jumped up like a madman. He threw away his weapons, pressing both hands to his mouth as he sat down on the floor.

Sima Lin was secretly shocked, but for the moment didn’t know what to do. Should he continue to fight, or temporarily withdraw and gain his revenge another day? The two techniques which Wang Yuyan had instructed Zhu Baokun use were simply too miraculous. She had calculated that after those three earlier techniques, elder Meng would charge towards Zhu Baokun’s right hand side. When Zhu Baokun struck out with his hammer at that moment, it was perfectly aligned with elder Meng’s mouth. Since Zhu Baokun’s leg was crippled, ‘Han Zhongli Discusses the Way in a Jade Cavern’ turned into ‘Iron-Crutched Li Discusses the Way in a Jade Cavern,’ and the mace struck out at an angle. If he hadn’t been crippled and the mace came out normally, it would have missed by a few inches. Her calculations were extremely ingenious and her predictions of the opponent’s actions were very accurate. It truly was shocking and astonishing.

Sima Lin thought to himself, “If I want to kill Zhu Baokun, this son of a turtle, first I’ll need to think of a way to shut this girl’s mouth and keep her from giving him advice.” But just as he was trying to think of a strategy by which he could harm Wang Yuyan, he heard her say, “Mr. Zhu, you are a disciple of the Penglai sect. For you to deceive your way into the Qingcheng sect in order to steal their martial arts is extremely inappropriate. However, I do believe that you were not the one who harmed the old master, Sima Wei. Based on your level of martial arts, even if you taught another expert the skills of the Qingcheng sect, he definitely would not be able to use the ‘Moon Destroying Awl’ technique to kill old master Sima Wei. But you are still to blame for stealing other people’s martial arts secrets. Quick, go apologize to sect-leader Sima, and we’ll consider this matter settled.”

Zhu Baokun thought that her words were just. In addition, she had saved his life, as he had only escaped from danger based on her advice. He could not disobey her commands, and immediately bowed deeply towards Sima Lin. He said, “Martial-brother sect-leader, it is your junior brother’s fault…”

Sima Lin leapt to one side, then fiercely cursed, “You bastard, you son of a turtle, you still have the face and the audacity to call me your martial-brother sect-leader?”

Wang Yuyan called out, “Quick! ‘Sauntering About the East China Sea!’

Zhu Baokun’s heart went cold. He immediately rose up and leapt three feet into the air. With a number of ‘chi’ sounds, over ten ‘Green Hornet’ nail projectiles passed underneath his feet, just barely missing him. If it hadn’t been for Wang Yuyan’s warning, as well as her specifically instructing him to use ‘Sauntering About the East China Sea’ technique rather than simply saying ‘Beware his hidden projectiles!’, his focus would have been on the opponent. How could he have guessed that Sima Lin would shoot out ‘Green Hornet’ nails from his sleeves? By then, it would have been too late to dodge.

The technique Sima Lin had just used was named ‘Heaven and Earth Within the Sleeves’. This was an ultimate skill which the Sima family passed down only to their children and not to the other disciples of the Qingcheng sect. This was a household rule, and not even the two elders knew this technique. Sima Wei did not pass this skill to Zhu Baokun because he had to obey the ancestral rules. This couldn’t be considered ‘hiding’ something from him. Zhu Baokun couldn’t have imagined that Sima Lin, without batting an eye, only needed to tuck his hands inside his sleeves and the hidden weaponry would erupt from the ‘Green Hornet’ nail mechanism hidden within. Wang Yuyan not only exposed this trick, but even instructed him on how to avoid the hidden weapons, using the Penglai sect’s technique, ‘Sauntering About the East China Sea’.

This never-fail trick which Sima Lin had just executed had actually been defeated, as though by ghosts or demons. Pointing towards Wang Yuyan, he cried out, “You aren’t a human, you’re a ghost, a ghost!”

All the teeth in elder Meng’s mouth had been knocked loose, and he had actually swallowed three of his teeth earlier. Although he was very old, he was very sharp-eyed, his hair was still dark, and his teeth were firm and hard. He prided himself on these things. Whenever he lost a tooth, he grieved deeply. Now, he loudly cried out in an indistinct voice, “Capture that girl, capture that girl!”

The rules of the Qingcheng sect were extremely rigid. Although elder Meng had a very high status, all actions had to be approved by the sect-leader first. Every disciple turned their gaze towards Sima Lin. If he said a single word of approval, they would throw themselves at Wang Yuyan.

Sima Lin said icily, “Miss Wang, how is it that you are so very familiar with the martial arts of our sect?” Wang Yuyan said, “I read them in a book. The techniques of the Qingcheng sect specialize in trickery, deception, viciousness, and ruthlessness. There aren’t a lot of changes or transformations in the techniques. They aren’t too hard to memorize.” Sima Lin said, “What book is this?” Wang Yuyan said, “Oh, it wasn’t a particularly special book. There are two volumes of the tome which discusses the martial arts of the Qingcheng sect. The first volume is called <>. The second is called, <>. You are the sect-leader of the Qingcheng sect. Naturally, you’ve read them both.”

Sima Lin secretly cried, “How embarrassing!” When he was young and first starting to learn martial arts, his father said to him, “In our schools martial arts, there originally were the <> and the <>. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, they were lost, leaving us with incomplete fragments, so that all these years, we have not been able to surpass the Penglai sect, and causing us to only be able to stalemate them. If anyone is able to uncover these two sets of martial arts in their entirety, not only would we be able to destroy the Penglai sect with ease, it wouldn’t be unthinkable for us to rule over the world.” Now, hearing her say that she read these books, he couldn’t help but feel a fire ignite in his chest. He said, “Might you be willing to lend this book to me to read, so that I might see what similarities this book has with the teachings of my sect?”

Before Wang Yuyan had a chance to reply, Yao Bodang began to laugh loudly. “Miss, don’t fall for this kid’s trick. His understanding of the martial arts of the Qingcheng sect is very shallow. He only knows three or four of the strikes of the ‘Qing’ character, and at most eleven or twelve of the ‘Cheng’ character’s destroying strokes. He wants to trick you into letting him check out your strange and wondrous martial arts treatises. No matter what, you can’t lend it to him!”

Sima Lin’s intentions were laid bare by Yao Bodang. Sinister lines of anger appeared on his young face. He said, “I personally wish to borrow some books from Miss Wang. What does this have to do with your Qin family?”

Yao Bodang laughed. “Naturally, this affects the Qin family stronghold. Miss Wang has memorized so many strange and exotic martial arts in the world. Whoever gets her will become matchless in the world. When I, Yao Bodang, see gold, silver, pearls, treasure, or beautiful women, I’ve always stretched my hand out and taken them. How can it be that I’ll let such a rare, once-in-a-lifetime treasure such as Miss Wang slip away from my grasp? Brother Sima, if your Qingcheng sect wishes to borrow books from her, why don’t you come and ask me if I am willing to allow it? Hah hah, hah hah! Why don’t you take a guess? Do you think I will agree?”

These words Yao Bodang spoke were extremely rude and arrogant, but after Sima Lin and the two elders heard them, their hearts were swayed. They thought to themselves, “This young girl’s understanding of martial arts truly is boundless and unfathomable. Judging from her fragile, delicate appearance, it’d be impossible for her to personally fight and achieve victory. But she obviously has read many weird and remarkable martial arts manuals, and has understood how to apply what she has learned as well. If we can manage to take her back to the Qingcheng sect, we would be able to learn more than just the ‘Nine Strikes of the ‘Qing’ Character’ and the ‘Eighteen Destroying Strokes of the ‘Cheng’ Character’. It seems as though stronghold-master Yao has the same though. Looks like we need to prepare for a major battle.”

Yao Bodang continued, “Miss Wang, we originally came to cause trouble for the Murong family. From the looks of it, you seem to belong to the Murong family?”

Once Wang Yuyan heard the words, ‘you seem to belong to the Murong family’, she felt both bashful and happy. Her entire face blushed, and she swayed once before saying, “Young master Murong is my cousin. What business do you have with him? How has he offended you?”

Yao Bodang laughed loudly. “You are Murong Fu’s cousin? That couldn’t be better. The ancestor’s of Gusu’s Murong family owes my Yao family a million taels of gold and ten million taels of silver. It’s been centuries, and they owe us interest on the interest. How shall we settle this debt?” Wang Yuyan was astonished. “How can there be such a thing? My uncle’s family has always been rich. How can they owe your family money?” Yao Bodang replied, “Whether they owe us or not, what does a little girl like you know? I went looking for Murong Bo to get our money back. He agreed to pay us back, but he didn’t pay us back a single copper before his feet stiffened and he dropped dead. Since the old fellow died, the only option is to go find his son. Who would have imagined that upon his creditors arriving, Murong Fu would actually hide himself away? The only choice I have is to find something to serve as a mortgage.”

Wang Yuyan replied, “My cousin is generous and straightforward. If he borrowed money from you, he would have repaid you long ago. Even if he didn’t borrow money from you, if you asked him for some gold and silver, he would not refuse you. What is this nonsense about him being afraid of you and hiding himself away?”

Yao Bodang wrinkled his forehead. He said, “How about this. It’s hard to fully debate matters like this in a short period of time. Tonight, why don’t you temporarily come north with me, Miss? You can stay at the Qin family stronghold for a year or so. I guarantee that the people of the Qin family stronghold won’t touch a hair on your head. The wife of Yao Bodang is a famous for being a jealous old tigress. I’ve always been extremely well-disciplined when it comes to dealing with other women. Put your mind at rest. There’s no need for you to pack either, we’ll leave immediately. After your cousin has coughed up the money to repay this debt, I will naturally escort you back to Gusu and allow you and your cousin to be married. The Qin family stronghold will give you a very lavish wedding gift, and I, Yao Bodang, will have to come and drink a wedding toast as well.” As he spoke, his lips split into another loud laugh.

These words were extremely boorish, and the last few words were all the more mocking, but in Wang Yuyan’s ears, they sounded very sweet and made her very happy. Smiling, she said, “You love to talk rubbish. Why would I go with you to the Qin family stronghold? If my uncle’s family really borrowed money from you, most likely it was something which happened a long time ago which my cousin doesn’t know about. All you have to do is produce evidence, and my cousin will definitely repay you.”

Yao Bodang’s original intention was to carry off Wang Yuyan and force her to reveal martial arts secrets. Everything he said earlier about a million taels of gold and ten million taels of silver were all nonsense. Now, hearing how innocent she was in taking his nonsensical story to be true, he said, “It is best if you come with me. The Qin family stronghold is a very fun place. We’ve raised a pack of black hunting panthers, giant hawks, and deer. Everything is new and exciting. I guarantee that you won’t be bored of the place within half a year. As soon as your cousin receives the news, he will immediately come there to find you. Even if he doesn’t pay me back, I guess I can just forget about it and let the two of you go back to Gusu. What do you think?” These words he spoke caused Wang Yuyan’s heart to actually be moved.

Sima Lin, seeing her gaze wander and a beaming expression on her face, thought to himself, “If she actually agrees to go to the Qin family stronghold, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to prevent her from doing so afterwards.” Without waiting for her to respond, he immediately interjected, “Yunnan is a place of bitter cold, located beyond the Great Wall. Miss Wang, how could a delicate and tender Jiangnan beauty such as you suffer such torment? My hometown of Chengdu is a city of legendary beauty, known as the City of Silk and Satin. The silk which we produce is famous world-wide. Moreover, we have beautiful scenery and ten times as many diverting things to do as Yunnan. Miss Wang, in accordance with your beauty, you should come to Chengdu and buy some silk dresses. It would be like a red rose on a field of green plants, each multiplying the beauty of the other. Young master Murong is both handsome and talented. Naturally, he would like it if you dressed up beautifully for him.” Since he was now certain that his father had been harmed by the people from the Penglai sect, he held no more grudges against the Murong family.

Yao Bodang shouted, “Farting, farting, your dog of a mother is letting out a smelly fart! Can it be that the city of Suzhou lacks silks or brocade? Open your dog eyes and take a close look at these three beautiful girls. Which of them don’t know how to dress up?” Sima Lin let out a cold snort. “It stinks in here. It really does stink.” Yao Bodang angrily shouted, “Are you talking about me?” Sima Lin said, “I wouldn’t dare! I’m saying that a filthy dog naturally lets out nauseating farts.”

With a swishing sound, Yao Bodang drew the short-hilted broadsword from his and called out, “Sima Lin, my Qin family stronghold, compared to your Qingcheng sect, is probably about on par and matched with each other. But if the Qin family stronghold unites with the Penglai sect, we’d probably be able to wipe out your Qingcheng sect. Am I right?”

The look on Sima Lin’s face changed. He thought to himself, “His words are not false. After the passing of my father, the strength of my Qingcheng sect is already diminished. In addition, this traitor, Zhu Baokun, has stolen our secret martial arts techniques. If the Qin family stronghold becomes our enemies as well, then things will become very difficult. As the saying goes, ‘he who strikes first becomes the master, he who strikes second suffers disaster’. Goddamnit, the only option we have today is to launch a surprise attack on them.” He immediately said lightly, “What do you propose?”

Seeing him fold his hands into his sleeves, Yao Bodang knew that could shoot forth his insidious hidden weapons at any point in time. Instantly, he became all the more cautious. He said, “I am inviting Miss Wang to stay in Yunnan as my guest until young master Murong comes to escort her back home. But you have chosen to meddle in my business and refuse to accept this. Am I right?”

Sima Lin said, “Your home, Yunnan, is too crappy a place for Miss Wang. I want to invite Miss Wang to come to Chengdu to enjoy herself.” Yao Bodang said, “Fine. Let us determine victory or defeat through battle. Whoever wins will be Miss Wang’s host.” Sima Lin said, “Precisely so. After all, even if the losers want to be Miss Wang’s host, they can’t possibly invite her down to the underworld.” The meaning of his words was that this wasn’t a competition of martial arts, but a life-and-death struggle which would determine who would live and who would be destroyed. Yao Bodang loudly laughed, then shouted, “The life that I, Yao Bodang have lived, has always been one of lapping blood from the tip of my broadsword. Sect-leader Sima, you want to use the word ‘death’ to frighten me? I have not taken it to heart in the slightest!” Sima Lin said, “How shall we compete? Shall the two of us duel with each other, or shall everyone just charge at the other side?”

Yao Bodang said, “Why don’t you just let this old fellow that I am play with you a bit…” Sima Lin suddenly turned his head towards the left, a look of utmost astonishment on his face, as though something bizarre had just happened. Yao Bodang’s gaze had been on him this entire time, fearing that he was planning some sort of trick. But now, he couldn’t help but turn his gaze to the left as well. Suddenly, three sneering sounds could be heard. Snapping his attention back, he saw that the hidden weapons were now less than a meter away from his chest. He felt sourness in his heart, knowing that he was in deep trouble….

Just at this critical, lethal moment, something flashed by his chest. With a clattering sound, it knocked aside all of the poisoned nails. The poison nails were shot out extremely quickly, and despite Yao Bodang being focused upon his opponent, he still would have been unable to avoid them. But the object which knocked aside the poison nails was several times faster than the nails. It was sent out later, but arrived earlier, knocking the poisoned nails aside. As to what exactly was tossed out, no one had seen clearly.

Wang Yuyan cried out in a happy voice, “Is it Uncle Bao who’s arrived?”

An extremely strange voice replied, “Tis not so, tis not so. It isn’t Uncle Bao who’s arrived.”

Wang Yuyan laughed, “You claim not to be Uncle Bao? Even before you yourself appear, your ‘tis not so, tis not so’ comments arrive!” That voice replied, “Tis not so, tis not so! I am not Uncle Bao!” Wang Yuyan laughed. “Tis not so, tis not so? Then who are you?” That voice replied, “The kinsmen of the Murong family call me ‘third brother’, but you addressed me as me ‘uncle’. Tis not so, tis not so! You addressed me incorrectly!” Wang Yuyan’s body swayed with laughter as she pressed her hands to her face. “You still aren’t coming out?”

The voice did not reply. After a while, Wang Yuyan saw that there wasn’t a single bit of movement, and cried out, “Hey, come out! Come help us shoo out these random people away!” But still, no sound could be heard. Clearly, the person surnamed Bao had left long ago. Wang Yuyan felt a bit disappointed, and asked Ah Zhu, “Where did he go?” Ah Zhu smiled. “Third brother Bao always had this sort of weird temper. Earlier, miss, you said, ‘You still aren’t coming out?’ Originally, he was planning to come out, but after hearing you say that, he would do the opposite to make things awkward for you. I’m afraid he might not come back at all today.”

Earlier, there was a 99% chance of death for Yao Bodang, if it hadn’t been for the help of the man surnamed Bao. Naturally, he felt indebted to him. Originally, he held no grudges against the Qingcheng sect and felt no enmity towards them, but now, it was unavoidable that he would want to kill Sima Lin. Brandishing his short-handled broadsword, he shouted, “Shameless scoundrel! You secretly shoot out hidden weapons. Do you think you can hurt this old man with them?” With a sweep of his broadsword, he chopped towards the crown of Sima Lin’s head. Sima Lin’s hands left his sleeves. In his left hand he wielded a steel awl, and in his right hand he wielded a steel mace, and his two weapons began to tussle against Yao Bodang’s broadsword.

Yao Bodang possessed great physical strength, and his sabre techniques were ruthless and vicious. By contrast, Sima Lin specialized in using small, quick weapons and clever techniques. This was the first time a member of the Qin family stronghold and a member of Qingcheng sect had fought against each other. With each of them being the leader of their respective organization, this was more than just a life-and-death battle; this was something which would determine the prestige or downfall of their sects. Both of them were forced to be very careful, not daring to slacken off in the slightest.

After seventy or so stances had been exchanged, Wang Yuyan suddenly said to Ah Zhu, “Check it out. It seems as though the Qin family stronghold is missing more than just five strokes from their ‘Five Tigers Shattering the Gate’ sabre style. Why isn’t leader Yao using the techniques ‘Carrying the Son Through the River’ or ‘Valuing Integrity, Guarding Righteousness’?” Ah Zhu didn’t know anything about the ‘Five Tigers Shattering the Gate’ sabre style, and found it difficult to respond.

In the middle of this fierce battle, these four sentences drifted into Yao Bodang’s ears. He was greatly shocked. “This little lady’s eyesight is incredible. It originally was the case that only fifty nine strokes remained of the sixty four strokes of the ‘Five Tigers Shattering the Gate’ sabre style. But when my master learned this style, he was not intelligent enough to learn those two stances, ‘Carrying the Son Through the River’ and ‘Valuing Integrity, Guarding Righteousness.’ Thus, those two stances were lost, leaving behind only fifty seven strokes. In order to save face, I slightly modified the alternate forms of two other strokes, so as to keep the number of stances at fifty nine. She actually saw through it.”

As it were, the people of the mountain strongholds were a motley, disorderly array. Anyone could mingle together with them, but when Yunnan’s Qin family led raids to loot and plunder, the leaders were always disciples of the ‘Five Tigers Shattering the Gate’ school. The experts of other sects, knowing that the members of the Qin family stockade would not treat them as one of their own, would not go and try to join forces with them. Yao Bodang’s master came from the Qin family. He was not only the chief of the Qin family stockade, but also the leader of the sect-leader of the ‘Five Tigers Shattering the Gate’ school of martial arts. His own martial arts level, as well as that of his son, Qin Boqi, was very mediocre. Thus, he gave his own rank and station to that of his head apprentice, Yao Bodang. Several months ago, while in Shaanxi, Qin Boqi was killed by a sabre technique which utilized three horizontal chops and a vertical chop, known as the “Four Knife-Strokes of the ‘Wang’ Character” [The ‘Wang’ character, meaning ‘King’, is written in Chinese with three parallel horizontal strokes and a vertical stroke which bisects all three]. This was the hardest and most fierce technique within the ‘Five Tigers Shattering the Gate’ sabre style. Everyone believed that the killer must have been Gusu’s Murong family. Yao Bodang, remembering his master’s benevolence, marshaled the many experts of his stronghold and came to Suzhou to seek revenge on behalf of his martial-brother. Unexpectedly, he almost lost his life to the poison nails of the Qingcheng sect before he even had a chance to meet with the master of the place, and his life was actually rescued by one of Murong Fu’s friends.

Yao Bodang hated Sima Lin’s vile, treacherous techniques techniques. Now, hearing Wang Yuyan expose the flaws in his martial arts, he felt very ashamed. He wanted to defeat Sima Lin as quickly as possible, so as to maintain his own dignity and prestige within his sect. But this anxiousness to achieve a quick victory made him rash and impatient. He executed several risky attacks, all of which were dodged by Sima Lin. Letting out a loud roar, Yao Bodang brandished his sabre in a mighty downwards chop. Just as Sima Lin leapt to the left, Yao Bodang suddenly kicked out with his right leg. Sima Lin’s body was in midair, leaving him with no place to dodge. Instead, he delivered a powerful thrust towards Yao Bodang’s foot using the steel awl in his left hand, intending to force Yao Bodang to retract this kick. Although Yao Bodang indeed did not follow through with his right kick, his left leg suddenly struck out as well in a tandem strike, attacking the left side of Sima Lin’s waist.

Sima Lin struck diagonally with his steel mace. With a clapping sound, by chance it managed to strike Yao Bodang precisely on the bridge of his nose. Blood immediately began to flow from the wound. But at the same time, Yao Bodang’s left leg struck Sima Lin on his waist.

Unfortunately, since Yao Bodang was struck first, he was startled, causing the power of this kick to have less than 20% of his normal force. Although Sima Lin was hit, he suffered no ill effects at all, aside from some temporary pain. And so, in the twinkling of an eye, victory and defeat had been determined. Letting out a tiger’s roar, Yao Bodang charged forward with his sabre. But feeling pain so severe that it seemed his head had been split in twain, Yao Bodang’s footsteps became staggered and his footing became unsure.

Sima Lin’s winning of this battle was highly due to luck. He knew that if he spared Yao Bodang’s life, Yao Bodang would cause him no end of trouble in the future. Immediately, he made up his mind to be ruthless. The mace in his hand flashed through the air in an attack. Just as Yao Bodang brandished his knife to defend, the steel awl in Sima Lin’s left