The Li family of the Marquis of Loyalty and Valor had been rooted in the capital for generations, and their loyalty to the imperial house was plain for all to see. The Investigation Bureau would never dare look into the Li family on its own initiative. If His Majesty were displeased with the Li family, he would send the Imperial Guard to seize the estate outright—why would he send one lowly Wolf Guard to wreck the place?
And that was precisely why, when Li Tianyu heard that two Wolf Guards had come to wreck the place, he immediately ordered his guards to kill them.
The underground fighting pit at White Horse Manor could never be brought out into the open. And even if the Investigation Bureau came asking afterward about two dead Wolf Guards, the worst that would follow was a visit to apologize. Li Tianyu knew exactly which weighed more; his handling of it was swift and ruthless.
Hearing the Li family speak, Zhu Manlong naturally said no more. He and Zhang Chao were hired muscle brought in by the Li family; if anything went wrong, the Li family would shoulder it. All they had to do was their job.
Zhang Chao, his hair already streaked with white, was in a towering rage. A few years back his only son had been drinking in a pleasure house and quarreled with a jianghu wanderer, drawing the attention of the Wolf Guard. Young and hot-blooded and a little drunk, the boy had jostled a Wolf Guard and was beaten to death on the spot.
In Great Yue, "using martial arts to defy the law" was a grave crime. For all his skill, Zhang Chao could only swallow that fury down, and he had been stewing in it for years. Now he held nothing back: saber in hand, he crossed the ground in two strides and charged to the very front.
Tongbei Fist and Tongbei Saber share the same principles. Zhang Chao had trained the fist his whole life—not a grandmaster, perhaps, but unquestionably an expert. His old saber came down with fierce, whistling force, and in the blink of an eye it was at Xu Buling's face.
Xu Buling's words had been arrogant, but his mind was not careless in the slightest. Holding his four-foot blade in one hand, he stamped his boot hard against the ground and shot forward as though struck by a ram, blade trailing, body leading. Bending low under Zhang Chao's cut, his black blade appeared soundlessly before Zhang Chao's chest.
When masters trade blows it is usually over in two or three moves; who is stronger is known at the first touch.
One look at Xu Buling's opening stance and Zhu Manlong thought, This is bad—the Night Battle Eight Directions form of the Eight Trigrams Saber.
It was a move created by Zhang Xiang, head of the Investigation Bureau, devised ten years ago specifically to break the Tongbei Saber of the Qi family of Youzhou. He had assumed only Zhang Xiang knew it; he never imagined this masked young man could wield it with such mastery.
Zhang Chao was furious, true enough, but a martial man's instincts kept him from being careless. The instant his saber left his hand he knew he had been tricked. Without a moment's thought he abandoned the blade for his palms, both hands coming together to thrust out flat in a "Golden Dragon Closes Its Jaws," slipping past the saber while crashing toward Xu Buling's face.
"Careful!"
Zhu Manlong's face changed. To use a move your opponent already knew was all but throwing yourself onto the blade. The schools of the jianghu each checked one another; no form was guaranteed to win. If this youth could break the Tongbei Saber, then Golden Dragon Closes Its Jaws—which he surely knew already—would be broken with ease.
Zhu Manlong leaped like an eagle spreading its wings, feet flying, wanting to pull Zhang Chao out of the trap—but it was already too late.
In the blink of an eye, as Zhang Chao dropped the saber and switched to his palms, Xu Buling pulled back his blade and bent his knees, his body shooting up off the ground. Before Zhang Chao's palms could reach his chest, he lashed out a Tiger Climbs the Mountain kick of brutal force, his knee smashing hard into the chest of the stooping Zhang Chao.
Boom—
The crisp crack of breaking bone.
It was too late for Zhang Chao to change his move. His hands barely pressed down on Xu Buling's leg before the knee strike caught him square in the chest, lifting his whole body more than three chi off the ground, his face flooding red in an instant.
With Zhang Chao in the air and no way left to dodge, Xu Buling reversed his grip and slashed upward from below.
Shhk—
Blood sprayed.
The exchange lasted an instant. The guards around them had not even caught the movements before Zhang Chao went from a saber-wielding pounce to lying on the ground, a long gash across his throat, blood gushing onto the floor, already still.
At that sight the saber-armed guards skidded to a halt, and the many spectators around them went white in the face—not one of them had imagined that the master of a Hutai Street martial academy could die so quickly.
What a formidable figure he had to be!
Zhu Manlong, who could read the finer points, was stunned by the masked man's skill, but he also sensed something off.
A moment's carelessness between martial men decides life and death on the spot. The masked youth's training was indeed a patchwork of many schools, but every break and parry he used had relied on cleverness. And that Tiger Climbs the Mountain just now, though it traveled the path of brute force, had plainly been cramped and restricted in the execution.
As an expert who had steeped himself in martial arts his whole life, Zhu Manlong knew this was a case of "the spirit is willing but the strength is lacking"—either the man was injured and could not use his full power, or something else was holding him back.
Seeing this, Zhu Manlong narrowed his eyes and, without hesitation, abandoned the Eagle Claw he had trained his whole life. He simply swung his pair of old fists at Xu Buling—no technique at all, not even aiming for vital points, purely striking at what must be defended, using raw brute force to force his opponent to block every blow.
After cutting down Zhang Chao, Xu Buling's backhand slash was dodged by Zhu Manlong. Without a second thought he swept his right leg out low at Zhu Manlong's stance.
Boom—
Zhu Manlong's fist landed square on his chest, and Xu Buling's body was smashed backward by the force—but his right leg caught Zhu Manlong's left leg and swept him, his footing already unsteady, spinning half a turn to crash onto the ground.
Zhu Manzhi had been watching in an agony of nerves. Seeing Xu Buling take the punch and lose his balance, she rushed over and braced his back from behind.
Using the support, Xu Buling rose, strode out and twisted free, and brought the saber down with both hands at the fallen Zhu Manlong.
Unfortunately, with the ground beneath him to push off from, there was room to dodge. Zhu Manlong had expected a follow-up; he slapped the floor hard, rolled a few times, and opened the distance.
The guards present stared in shock—they had never imagined that two master teachers long famous on Hutai Street could not last even three moves.
If even Zhang Chao and Zhu Manlong had come off worse, how would guards like them, out of the martial academies, dare step up and take that blade? For a moment they stood frozen where they were.
Xu Buling had taken a punch and then kept up violent exertion; the stabbing pain in his chest could no longer be suppressed, and fighting on would cost him more than he gained.
Having beaten back the two experts, Xu Buling did not press the fight. Seizing the moment while the saber-armed guards were still stunned, he turned, gathered Zhu Manzhi into his arms, and ran for the exit.
Li Tianyu knew no martial arts and could hardly make out what was happening. Watching the two "embroidered pillows" topple at a breath of wind while the pack of guards did nothing to stop them, he went livid, and standing in the doorway he shouted furiously:
"What are you all standing there for? Kill him! Kill him!"
Xu Buling's face went cold, and he simply hurled the long saber in his hand straight ahead.
The blade spun like a windmill, screaming through the air as it flew at Li Tianyu.
Li Tianyu's pupils dilated. He only had time to raise both hands before the forty-jin saber slammed him into the wall; he did not even have time to scream.
Dead silence fell over the whole hall. No one had imagined this fellow would kill even the Li family's young cousin without a second thought.
Zhu Manlong, back on his feet, for a moment did not dare give chase, standing where he was in hesitation.
Everyone there had gone white at that murderous ferocity that killed whoever blocked its way; who would dare stand in his path now?
Carrying Zhu Manzhi, Xu Buling passed the table where the wagers were piled and did not forget to pick up a plate of silver and hand it to her. Only then did he run to Li Tianyu's corpse, pull the long saber from the wall, and charge out through the stone passage...
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