across the Quartet

Chapter Two

Outside the Chenxian County Office, a fierce battle is about to break out.

The old blind man's weapon is the bamboo stick in his hand - it's more like a thorn than a sword; the stick is smooth, only the tip is sharpened.However, after Wei Zhuang said that "please", a sharp sword energy erupted all over his body, and the group of heroes who watched the battle immediately felt a heavy chill rushing towards their faces. Can't stop fighting.

Wei Zhuang still looked so leisurely.He looked up at the sky, and suddenly sighed for no reason: "The moonlight is good tonight."

"Oh?" The blind old beggar lessened his murderous aura, and replied in bewilderment.

"The moonlight is good, so that's unfair to your Excellency." Wei Zhuang said while pulling down the forehead band that tied his hair, covering his eyes.A low whisper broke out again from the crowd watching the battle.The blind old beggar released his sword energy earlier, indicating that he didn't intend to pay attention to the "point to end" agreement from the beginning, but planned to go all out for a showdown, even at the risk of his life; and Wei Zhuang at this time Is his behavior a pedantic emphasis on fairness and comity, or is he arrogant and paradoxical to the point of absurdity?

The blind old beggar heard the rustling of the cloth, and heard the amazed comments of others, and immediately guessed Wei Zhuang's actions by seven or eight.He laughed strangely in his throat, and suddenly he jumped up with his stick, and rushed towards Wei Zhuang like a flying arrow.This blow had a desperate momentum of "one who goes will not return", Wei Zhuang jumped back several steps in a row, and just escaped from the attack of this "sword".

This move is a form of "Yin and Yang Sanhe" in Tianwen swordsmanship. The subtlety is that the three swords are pierced at an extremely fast speed at the same time, but the sword energy is only concentrated on the middle sword, which makes it very easy. Ignore the killing moves on both sides.If this pose is not done well enough, it will look like the Wushan School disciple just now, the sword tip is swinging from side to side; Like the old man, only one of the three swords is saved, and he can't feel any unnecessary movements at all.Just now if Wei Zhuang dodged to the left or right, it seemed that he could avoid the sharp edge, but in fact he would be injured by the sharp edge of the bamboo stick.Experienced warriors have formed an instinct to sense danger in countless battles. Wei Zhuang relied on this instinct to judge the only feasible way out in an instant.

The blind old beggar chased after him with his stick and praised: "It's interesting to hide well." His sword is powerful, and when he moves, he makes a sharp sound of "chi" and "chi", like a hidden weapon piercing the wind. There are many finger-thin round holes left in the mud brick wall.However, Wei Zhuang did not release the same terrifying true energy to fight against him. Instead, he kept retreating and moving. The shark teeth blocked or staggered the bamboo sticks that were piercing the vital points many times. Although the moves were extremely clever, the situation was always under the opponent's control under.

"Shaokang chasing dogs, Chengtang patrolling east..." The three disciples of Wushan faction watched the battle from the sidelines, chanting words, their expressions becoming more and more gloomy-they clearly recognized every move of the old blind man and could use them But it has such a different power.They have already seen that this senior from the same sect is more than several times better than their own in Tianwen swordsmanship.

Wei Zhuang is thinking.In fact, the old blind man was indeed the strongest opponent he had ever seen in recent years except Gai Nie; with the disadvantage of not being able to use a little bit of internal power, the hope of winning was almost slim.He deliberately gave up the vision of both eyes, relying on his ears and skin to distinguish the airflow, using intuition and experience to identify the opponent's killing intent, just to put himself in the same situation as the opponent, and to see it from the perspective of a blind person. Thinking—How can you recognize the other party's intentions without using your eyes?How can you see through the flaws in the opponent's moves?Only by thinking clearly about this problem can we understand the opponent's weakness.

In the past, I relied too much on internal strength——he thought.Because of the practice of secret arts, the internal strength has increased unreasonably too fast, so far there are few people who can be rivals, so the swordsmanship has stagnated instead.Only after taking away this kind of power that seems to constitute a part of the body, can the real limit of this flesh and blood body be forced out.

After exchanging more than a hundred strokes, the speed of the two of them has reached the point where the eyes can hardly follow. The green light of the bamboo stick and the cold light of the shark's teeth interweave into warp and weft in the air, like the rain curtain of summer riots.Wei Zhuang still only defends but does not attack."Spirit Turtle Yangzhi" in horizontal swordsmanship is a swordsmanship that brings defense to the extreme—abandoning all attacking intentions and desires, and concentrating on protecting one's body.This scripture says: If the self is safe, the will will be strong; if the will is strong, the power and power will not be divided.When Wei Zhuang was young, he didn't like this move very much, but now he relies on this move to save himself from danger under the old beggar's bamboo stick.Most of the people around in the distance can only see the shadows of people, and the sound of cutting gold and jade can be heard endlessly; but in the eyes of the spectators with a slightly higher cultivation level, the battle situation is quite one-sided-the situation in Wei Zhuang is getting worse and worse. Unfavorable, although the speed can barely keep up, it has been forced into a predicament where it can only be left and right, unable to distract and fight back.

Suddenly, the two bodies passed by; this time they were separated by more than twenty steps.

Wei Zhuang took a deep breath.The red color with a fishy smell slowly bloomed on his skirt, like a red plum in full bloom.

"Excellent sword. That sword just now, sir, was the legendary 'Candle Dragon He Zhao'?"

"No. This move is called 'Fate of Destiny'." The blind old beggar waved the bamboo stick in his hand, "Young man, there are holes in your sword. It’s different, there seems to be strands of thin air running across the iron blades.”

"That's right." Wei Zhuang made an expression of sudden realization, "It's very rare, sir, to distinguish this point only by the sound of the wind; what's even more difficult is to make the bamboo sword pass through the shark's teeth against the direction of the airflow, and just pass through the gap on the back of the lower sword. There is no deviation. It can be seen that Tianwen swordsmanship is not limited to moves, but changes according to the characteristics of the opponent, which is quite similar to my vertical and horizontal swordsmanship."

"There is no inherent superiority in swordsmanship. The key is whether the swordsman can transcend common sense and gain what he cannot." The old beggar smiled admiringly, but soon turned into cold resentment, "It's a pity that the old man actually Didn't realize it until I was blind. Too late, too late..."

All of a sudden, the blind old beggar sprang up, and the bamboo stick in his hand danced violently, covering Wei Zhuang like a cloud of green shadows.The sword energy on his body was twice as strong as before, and the flapping of his robe seemed to be mixed with an overwhelming roar, the sound was like a sea of ​​bamboos; even Wushan swordsmen, Tian brothers and other masters were so shocked that their faces changed color.

Under such pressure, Wei Zhuang abandoned his previous cautious style instead, and his body and footwork did not speed up significantly, but changed more.Sometimes he lay low, sometimes leaped up, and sometimes bypassed the opponent's sharp edge close to his body, and the shark teeth cut in and out in the blue shadow, trying to directly attack the opponent's vitals.Because of the wide opening and closing of the movement, more and more blood flowed down his arm, dripping all the way.Wei Zhuang didn't seem to realize it, and suddenly performed the "Five Dragons Shengshen", and his whole body suddenly turned over the old beggar; the moment he passed the opponent's head, he flicked the hilt of the sword with his fingers, and the shark's teeth spun rapidly in the palm of his hand, turning into a Hold it with a reverse blade, and brush the old man's face——the blind old beggar has already stabbed seven swords quickly when he felt the cold air blowing on his face, each sword passed through the "hole" in the opponent's sword in his memory; in that unspeakable For a moment, a feeling of being at a loss seized his stomach.

At this time, Wei Zhuang suddenly crossed his sword with his left hand, and when he landed, the sharp edge cut into the opponent's neck, and then he fully retracted his strength.

A faint blush appeared on the blind old beggar's neck.He stood there sluggishly, as if completely immersed in the emptiness of the moment of defeat.

Wei Zhuang put his sword back into its sheath, and the mockery on his face disappeared in an instant.He knew that the shape of the shark teeth was too unique, and a person who could distinguish the subtle wind movement by sound alone would not be able to resist such a temptation—as long as he expected that the opponent would definitely use the gap on the back of the shark tooth sword, he would It can induce an opportunity for misidentification, and take advantage of the moment when its moves deviate from defense to attack.What's more, he also noticed another weakness of his opponent.

The blind old beggar said in a hoarse voice, "How...how did you..."

Wei Zhuang replied lazily: "Mr.'s last move, if it was not seven swords but six swords, Wei should have returned to the ground by now."

The old blind man was stunned for a moment, and after a while a gust of cool wind blew past him, he suddenly burst out laughing. "Could it be, could it be... the blind man still loses under the candle dragon?! Haha, hahahaha..."

Wei Zhuang smiled slightly, but didn't answer.But silence is the best answer.

Back then, the old beggar was blinded by his senior brother Meng Xiang's move "Candle Dragon He Zhao", and this became the worst nightmare of his life.When he was fighting with someone, Wei Zhuang noticed that he made a movement to protect his upper face from time to time, even though the shark teeth only attacked near the head and neck at that time; because of the strong sword spirit of the man and the extremely fast speed of the sword, this Small superfluous actions are repeatedly covered up in the past.Wei Zhuang's last sword intentionally imitated "Zhulong Hezhao", and the old beggar was shocked to use the fastest speed in his life to attack and defend, but he wanted to protect his "eyes"; After calming down and gaining insight into Wei Zhuang's intention to lure the enemy, he can just use his sword to stab the enemy falling from mid-air.

People who have comprehended the sword to the extent of Wei Zhuang and the old blind man are not concerned about the power and speed of the moves, but the efficiency: if you attack, you will be saved if you attack, the rules are impeccable, and the intention of each sword can be exact. Between milliseconds.With this speed and precision, the lack or redundancy of offense and defense is also a huge loophole.Profound internal strength can effectively save such mistakes—expanding the attack and defense range of each sword through the inhalation and exhalation of true energy can make up for mistakes in accuracy and judgment.After Wei Zhuang was deprived of his internal strength, what he got was an irreplaceable experience.

The old man's laughter became more and more hoarse, and finally turned into a breathy sound like a leak.His figure seemed to shrivel up suddenly; when he turned to leave, the bamboo stick landed on the ground.His back is no different from that of a beggar in his dying years.

In this battle, although Wei Zhuang was injured far more than his opponent, the way of winning was even more heart-wrenching for the viewers.Among the heroes, those with a slightly lower cultivation level will not be able to see the mystery of the reversal of victory and defeat; but those who understand the last sentence of Wei Zhuang and the old man must be top masters, and they are even more amazed at the understanding of these two people on swords endlessly.Many swordsmen who came here with a fluke mentality have completely given up the idea of ​​fighting against the Guigu faction.There are only a few who think differently in their hearts than the others.For example, that Young Master Tian from the Qi Kingdom is more careful than others, and he thought to himself at this moment: "Until the moment of life and death, that person can't detect the slightest sign of internal turmoil... ...Could it be that he didn't mean 'no need', but 'can't'? If so, the situation would be completely different..."

He was grinding the dust on the soles of his feet uneasily, intending to continue to challenge, but seeing the blood stains on the ground, he couldn't help hesitating. "If you defeat him at this time, will you be regarded as a villain who takes advantage of others' danger? How can my Linzitian family get such a reputation??"

Tian Heng didn't know that his hesitation saved his life.

In the courtyard separated by a wall, Gai Nie had already stood up, his pale knuckles tightly clasping the hilt of Yuan Hong's sword, as firm as a rock.He's breathing.

Make a sound.

As long as the next challenger speaks, he can determine his position.

With the current power of the Hundred Step Flying Sword, penetrating this less than one foot thick wall is as easy as passing through grass.

Gai Nie had already smelled blood.Judging from what he heard about the battle, Wei Zhuang's opponent was not seriously injured, so the one who was injured could only be himself.Wei Zhuang deliberately suppressed his murderous nature, it was really a last resort.In the current situation, if the sight of blood arouses public anger and provokes the heroes to rush forward, the situation will be beyond Wei Zhuang's control.So his best choice is to intimidate people and not kill people, so that they will be defeated willingly.

However, Xiao Zhuang lost all his internal strength, so he couldn't be lucky to shrink the blood vessels near the wound; if he lost too much blood, his consciousness would become blurred.If someone continues to provoke at this time, I am afraid it will be difficult to deal with it.

Therefore, the only person who made the move was me.Gaine thought.Speak up.

Murderous aura protruded out of the courtyard one by one, like a tiger out of its cage, menacing and silent.But everyone outside the wall was aware of this unusual aura in an instant.If the sword aura of the old blind man before was reminiscent of the biting cold wind of three or nine days, then the murderous aura at this time seems to have opened a door of ghosts on the ground - endless fighting, blood, screams, thousands of miles of red ground, A mountain of corpses—like a fierce battle with countless innocent souls roaring out of the door, the rumble of war drums and the sound of shouting for killing, beating the eardrums and the bottom of the heart at the same time.

"Sword, Saint..." Many people who had never met each other shouted in unison at this moment.

Wei Zhuang turned his head abruptly, his face full of uncontrollable anger.He was really furious—"I told you not to talk nonsense, but you refused to do it obediently!" But what he yelled was: "Gai Nie, you coward, you finally stopped hiding your head and showing your tail!" , dare to come and fight with me?! Today I just asked the heroes of the world to be circumstantial evidence, and you and I will use the ghost valley swordsmanship to distinguish between life and death!"

"——No, it's impossible... A person who can't even use his internal strength is absolutely unable to provoke such a powerful opponent." Tian Heng stared at Wei Zhuang's side face and thought to himself, wiping the sweat dripping from his forehead beads.

The murderous aura seemed to fade a little because of Wei Zhuang's words.A calm and steady voice came from inside the wall, "This is an internal matter of my Guigu faction. Don't involve others."

"Gai Nie, do you think that all these heroes are the helpers that Wei invited to deal with you?" Wei Zhuang sneered, "Wei doesn't even bother to bully the few with the more; They all came from far away, seeking you to settle accounts for the vengeance of the master or relatives and friends. Hmph, the sword master is famous all over the world, it is really gratifying!"

Gai Nie didn't understand the deep meaning of Wei Zhuang's words before, so he had to vaguely pass them along; now he gradually understands the truth. "Kehe... Crane?" He took the sword knowingly, flipped his palms, aiming at the air.

"Are you going to fight alone with the next order?"

"nature!"

Wei Zhuang's panting was trembling slightly with excitement, and he punched the old tree trunk beside him while speaking.Just hearing "click" and "click", several branches at the top of the tree crown suddenly broke and fell from heights one after another.

Among the bystanders, many people were inexplicably horrified by the kung fu he showed.A doorman tugged at Tian Rong's sleeve, and whispered in his ear: "This person's inner strength is very special, it doesn't come out with force, but condenses and passes along the tree trunk to a high place. Only then broke the dry branches. If you fight against him, you must be careful..."

Tian Rong nodded solemnly.At this time, the voice in the wall slowly said: "You fought against others before, and your internal energy was exhausted too much. To be fair, Gai will give you a moment to adjust your breath. After that, you can fight with me."

Wei Zhuang sneered and said, "One hour—hmph, why delay so long? Could it be that the sword master is waiting for the Qin people's patrol to come back and be your helper?"

Tian Rong had already made up his mind at this time - he had to wait for the two enemies of the Guigu faction to decide the winner, and then he would take action: if Wei Zhuang died at the hands of the opponent, he could continue to challenge the Sword Master and definitely take him If the Juggernaut loses, he can also take this opportunity to marry a master like Wei Zhuang, and at the same time try to promote an alliance between Qi and Han.Although South Korea is dead, the martial arts, courage, and vigor shown by Wei Zhuang tonight made him believe that there must be someone in South Korea who can be used.So he took a few steps and said to Wei Zhuang: "Brother Wei, don't worry. If the guards pass by on patrol, Rong will have a way to keep them silent. Brother Wei can adjust his breath to relieve fatigue, and fight again later."

"Brother Tian... so thank you all for your kindness." Wei Zhuang turned his head, with surprise on his face, and bowed to him.

Gai Nie had previously exposed Wei Zhuangyuan's rhetoric, but he didn't expect that someone would take the initiative to help Wei Zhuangyuan answer, and he was secretly amazed.

Now that Tian Rong had spoken, Tian's disciples spontaneously formed a human wall to separate Wei Zhuang from the others; some onlookers who were still eager to move had no idea of ​​continuing to challenge.A servant also thoughtfully took out a copper smoker from the carriage and lit a handful of calming herbs.The strangers gathered here are all in a dilemma: they can’t cross Wei Zhuang and fight the sword master, and they can’t provoke Tian’s and Wei Zhuang to be enemies, and they are reluctant to leave here and let go of the epic duel not long after. ; After thinking about it again and again, the only thing left is to wait.For a while, the street was extremely quiet, with occasional whispering sounds.

Inside the wall, Gai Nie finally sat cross-legged and continued to heal his injuries, but his thoughts couldn't stop for a while: Although it took an hour, what should I do next?Although there is still a group of guards passing through here before dawn, if what "Mr. Tian" said is true and his private subordinates are strong enough to completely wipe out a small group of patrolling Qin troops, then the battle between him and Wei Zhuang will be possible. It was inevitable.Could it be that this is Xiaozhuang's plan?After the foreshadowing just now, as the "enemies" of life and death in this decisive battle, the two naturally had to use internal strength; Xiao Zhuang used vertical and horizontal swordsmanship under the condition of losing all internal strength, could he not show any flaws?Maybe... I can try my best to cooperate while trying to create chaos, fight and walk with my junior, and jump out of the sight of these people; as long as I escape to the city gate, I can alert the guards, and these people in the rivers and lakes must not dare to chase...

An hour passed in this tense atmosphere.The vanilla is gradually burned out, and the edge of Dongtian is faintly whitish.Strangely, the patrol guards who were supposed to pass by here did not show up.

Wei Zhuang stood up, cupped his hands at the Tian brothers, then turned to the courtyard, and said in a deep voice, "Gai Nie, your death is coming."

Ge Nie felt uneasy.Although he had recovered from his internal injuries, he felt a little nervous about acting in front of everyone.Now the environment is much brighter, but luckily the fog in the city is getting thicker, and the vision is still very blurred; if Wei Zhuang's moves are not in place, he can probably get away with it as much as possible.

Just as he was about to answer, he heard a shrill scream from within the county government office.

"what--"

"Come here - there are assassins!! Catch the assassins!!!"

Soon someone knocked on the bronze chime that signaled a warning.The sound of ringing gold spread far away, and I don't know how many people woke up from their sleep and ran back and forth in the county office; the orderly footsteps of soldiers came from the street in the distance, and they were getting closer and closer.The gangsters gathered in the back street looked at each other in unison, and the acquaintances gave each other a wink, and then they split up and fled in various directions in the city.The Tian brothers were also shocked, while Wei Zhuang was full of unwillingness. He drew his sword and was about to charge into the courtyard, but Tian Rong grabbed him and shook his head at him.Wei Zhuang took a few deep breaths, had no choice but to put his sword back into its sheath, and wrote a few words in Tian Rong's palm.Tian Rong nodded, and got into the carriage with his younger brother, and the mighty motorcade was gone in the blink of an eye.

"...What happened? Is it a coincidence??" Gai Nie muttered to himself in the cage, expecting his junior brother to clarify his doubts.But Wei Zhuang's aura disappeared again.He anxiously paced back and forth in the cage, when suddenly a group of people hurried into the courtyard, the leader was the county magistrate of Chen County, followed by a group of guards.They were puzzled when they saw four guards fell to the ground, but Ge Nie was obediently locked in the cage.Gai Nie pointed to the two sleeping guards, and said, "Please wake up these two."

The county lieutenant hesitated and said, "Mr.... did you see any suspicious people and suspicious things the night before?"

Gai Nie said: "Someone attacked here with a hidden weapon; I thought it was a personal enmity that Gai had provoked, but no one came to fight with me. What happened?"

The county lieutenant exchanged glances with the person behind him.Immediately, he took out a bunch of keys, opened the iron cage, and said to Ge Nieli: "Please come out and speak, sir, this matter is not trivial."

Gai Nie felt that being released was even more inexplicable than when he was locked in.The county captain stepped back and apologized to him repeatedly: "Sir, I have been wronged. This matter was originally a plan that we made together, but unexpectedly..." He took a long breath and lowered his voice extremely low: "Lord Li was murdered."

Gai Nie asked in surprise, "Has the assassin been caught?"

The county lieutenant shook his head again and again, and stretched out his hand to lead the way: "Sir, please follow me. You can see it at a glance."

Gai Nie followed him through the courtyard of the house, and arrived at the study room where the county magistrate usually works. After entering the door, he saw the county magistrate Li who was still giving orders in the courtyard yesterday and locked him in an iron cage lying on the desk full of bamboo slips. On the table, tightly holding a half broken jade ring in his hand.There are also several similar pieces of jade scattered on the case and on the ground.Gai Nie bent down to pick up a piece of broken jade, and examined it against the still burning oil lamp.The engravings on the jade were obviously where he had seen them before.

ghost car.

TBC