Glad you enjoyed it =) Sorry but the earliest I can get vol 13 done is by next sunday. I know I have been dragging it out for a long period of time, but my workload is killing me.
---------- Post added October 07, 2013 at 11:22 PM ---------- Previous post was September 29, 2013 at 05:27 PM ----------
I know its late, but my overwhelming workload delayed me. Enjoy =)
Volume 13
Po Men Liu Jian:
-Yan Heng: From Qing Cheng Sect
-Jing Lie : From Nan Hai Hu Zhun Sect , guy who saved Yan Heng at Qing Cheng
-Ling Lan : From Japan
-Tong Jing: Daughter of the Head of Ming Jiang Gang
-Lian Fei Hong : ex-leader of Kong Tong Sect.
Yuan Xing: Shaolin Monk
Wudang Sect:
-Yao Lian Zhou: Leader
-Ye Chen Yuan: Vice leader, head of Bing Ya Division
-Shi Xing Hao: Vice leader, head of Zhen Gui Division
-Xi Xiao Yan: Guy with the long arm from Bing Ya div. Leaves Wudang Sect to find Jing Lie.
-Jiang Yun Lan : From Bing Ya Div. Has a metal claw on his left hand.
-Gui Dan Lei: From Zheng Gui Div. Kind of like the 2nd in charge of Zhen Gui Div. Defeated Yin Ying Chuan at Xi An.
-Shang Cheng Yu : Previously known as Shang Shi Xiong. His real name is revealed in this volume. The 3rd Vice Leader of Wudang. Also known as the Traitor of Wudang.
-Fan Zong: From Shou She Division’s elite ‘He She’.
-Hou Ying Zhi: Yan Heng’s friend. Originally from Qing Cheng Sect but joined Wudang Sect after Qing Cheng Sect’s destruction.
- Xi Xiao Yan : Not to be confused with the Xi Xiao Yan above. Maid from the brothel that Lian Zhou brought back with him from Xi An.
Prince of Ning’s gang:
-Prince of Ning : A royalty. Planning to gain power to usurp the throne.
-Li Jun Yuan : Son of the Prince of Ning’s #1 advisor. Trusted aide of the Prince of Ning
-WDK: Name Wu Ji Hong. Originally from Wudang Sect. Also known as Bo Long Shu Wang , literally means Wave Dragon Technique King which sounded not so cool so I cut it short to Wave Dragon King and finally WDK for simplicity sake. He is the main villain of the previous arc.
Imperial Court:
-Emperor
-Qian Ning: A eunuch. Head of the Imperial Military Police
-Song Li : Originally from Qing Cheng Sect. Now a concubine
-Wang Shou Ren: World renowned Confucian. One of the good guys.
Kong Tong Sect:
-Xing Ying : Lian Fei Hong’s disciple. Leaves Kong Tong Sect to find him.
8 Trigrams Sect:
-Yin Ying Feng: Leader
- ‘Shui Zhong Zhan Yue’ Yin Ying Chuan: Ying Feng’s younger brother. Lost to Gui Dan Lei in Xi An. Shui Zhong Zhan Yue means chopping the moon in the water.
Xin Yi Sect:
-‘Jin Zhong God Fist’ Yan Shi Bang : Leader. Jin Zhong is a city in Shan Xi( a province)
-Dai Kui : Challenged Jing Lie to a table top duel in Xi An and lost.
Mi Zong Sect:
-‘Yun Ying Shen Xing’ Lei Jiu Di : Leader.
-Han Shan Hu: Only disciple to learnt ‘Gods Power’.
Xiang Dragon Sect:
-Pang Tian Shun: Fought Yan Heng in volume 10. In the previous volume together with Dai Kui and Xing Ying they attempt to find Po Men Liu Jian.
Others:
Huo Yao Hua: Ex bandit. Was once part of WDK’s group before deciding to leave him.
Some important terminology in this volume:
-Jie Xiang: A technique whereby the user uses the power of imagination to increase the user’s capabilities.
-God’s Power: It is similar to Jie Xiang, just that it is a speedy method using incantations and rituals to numb the mind, completely giving oneself to that imagined God while usually losing control.
-God’s Descend: God’s Power + Jie Xiang.
-Bing Ya Division: 1 of Wudang Sect 3 divisions. They are the ones who travel around to challenge other sects in Wudang Sect’s to be the Strongest. Literally means Armed Crow
-Shou She Division: 1 of Wudang Sect’s 3 divisions. They are the scouts, responsible for gaining information. Can be translated into Head Snake.
-He She: Elite members of Shou She divisions. Literally means Brown Snake.
-Divine Engine Division : 1 of the 3 Imperial Elite Military Divisions, specializes in using firearms.
-3000 Division: 1 of the 3 Imperial Elite Military Divisions, consists of Cavalrymen.
-Ting Jing: Also known as Listening Power. It is the technique to sense opponent’s force.
-Neutralizing Power: Also known as absorb/redirect power. The technique to divert/redirect opponent’s force. In my previous translations I translate it as ‘guiding’/’guidance’ etc , divert and redirect may have been a better word. And I will stop using ‘guiding’/’guidance’.
-Yu Zhen Palace: A place on Mt Wudang.
-‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ stance: Jing Lie’s attack . The one where he stands on 1 leg to propel himself forward.
-3rd Commandments : Wudang Sect has 3 commandments. Here is a rough translation of the 3rd : One must not be tempted by fame and wealth, must not be tied down by anything, to find the road between heaven and earth.
The story after the battle in Xi An with Yao Lian Zhou declaring that Wudang will not attack any Sects for 5 years :
Jing Lie, Hu Ling Lan , Yan Heng , Tong Jing , Dai Kui and Lian Fei Hong left Xi An together. They spent the time together by training with each other. After some time Dai Kui decided to leave to report back to his master. Since Jing Lie wanted to find a smith to sharpen their weapons, Dai Kui suggested that they go to find a famous smith named Han Shi Zi.
On their way to Lu Ling , Jing Lie & co met Yuan Xing. Yuan Xing decided to stay behind to help the villagers out while they head towards Lu Ling. Upon reaching Lu Ling, they discovered a big baddie named WDK. Also they got to know Lu Ling’s ex magistrate Wang Shou Ren who just arrived. Jing Lie and a villager decided to go recce on the enemy’s hideout. In the process the villager died and Jing Lie was severely injured but still Jing Lie managed to kill WDK’s most trusted ally; his Shi Di. Yuan Xing then joined the rest in Lu Ling. Tong Jing named their group of 6 Po Men Liu Jian. Wang Shou Ren launched an assault comprising of Po Men Liu Jian, bandits, and a group of Lu Ling’s citizens. Even though they destroyed WDK’s hideout, WDK and his lackeys escaped due to a hostage situation. Han Shi Zi is found to be alive and helped Po Men Liu Jian sharpen their weapons.
Po Men Liu Jian left Lu Ling to pay the corrupted officials who are linked to WDK’s drug business a visit. After some time, they tracked down Qian Qing, god son of Qian Ning ( Head of the Royal Guards). Fei Hong kills Qian Qing. Ling Lan left the group to find a cure for Jing Lie . 3 days later Qian Ning is notified about the death of Qian Qing and is very angry about it, he manages to convince the Emperor to issue a Imperial Decree to all major sects and have them kill Po Men Liu Jian.
Wudang Sect refused the Imperial Decree and is the only sect to do so. Meanwhile Ling Lan encounters Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan (The male one, not the female. Previously he left Wudang Sect to find Jing Lie). They then decided to head to Wudang Sect to get the cure for Jing Lie. Qian Ning decided to help the Prince of Ning after being notified of his plans where Qian Ning is to convince the Emperor to launch an assault on Wudang Sect so that the Prince of Ning can steal some gunpowder among other things. Qian Ning managed to convince the Emperor of launching an assault on Wudang Sect. Mi Zong Sect launched an attack on Po Men Liu Jian (minus Ling Lan). They managed to escape and leave the area by getting help from 8 Trigrams Sect.
The Imperial Army that was sent after Wudang is at the foot of Mt Wudang. 6 ‘He She’ members are infiltrating the Army Camp to list down the locations of the gunpowder. They will ignite all the spots when they do an assault tomorrow. But halfway through, there was an explosion and the army realized about the infiltration. Thus the ‘He She’ members have no choice but to escape. Along the way some members of ‘Bing Ya’ Division arrived to help fend off the Imperial Army while some of ‘He She’ manage to successfully escape.
The 8 Trigrams Sect and Po Men Liu Jian (-minus Ling Lan) are hiding in Xiang Tan. Jing Lie is being treated by a doctor. Lei Jiu Di together with his disciple came up a plan to discover their hiding location, which succeeded. 8 Trigrams Sect was lured to deal with Han Shan Hu and Mi Zong Sect. Lei Jiu Di and a few of his disciples attack their hiding location. Lei Jiu Di forced Jing Lie to a duel which will take place 15 days later ( Jing Lie needs 15 days to recover). Lei Jiu Di needs a guarantee that Jing Lie will uphold his promise and takes Tong Jing as a hostage.
Hu Ling Lan, Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan meets WDK on their way to Mt Wudang. That is when they realise of Wudang Sect’s predicament. WDK is on his way to collect the gunpowder and weapons left behind by the Imperial Army, and to deliver it to the Prince of Ning once he is done. He is also on his way to rescue Shang Shi Xiong. Xi Xiao Yan and WDK clash but WDK retreats in the end. Hu Ling Lan, Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan continues heading towards Mt Wudang.
Volume 13 Translation:
- Tong Jing is treated pretty well throughout the 8 days that she spent in the inn with Mi Zong Sect; she is often allowed to bath, eat and have a change of clothes . She has been thinking about escaping but the 1 obstacle here is Lei Jiu Di. She knows that she cannot escape as long as he is here. 1 day she found Lei Jiu Di’s room and a fit of pique she entered his room. She is surprised to find him training and even surprised when he did not chase her out, but rather asked her to close the door. Tong Jing took this opportunity to observe his martial arts to see if there are any flaws that she could tell Jing Lie if she has the chance. Today is the 3rd time she is observing Jiu Di train. She does not understand why Jiu Di did not chase her out but Jiu Di do. Just before she first entered, Jiu Di is in ‘God’s Power’ mode with his mind trapped in darkness and chaos, after she entered he felt a warm sense of calmness in him. After achieving and practicing ‘God’s Descend’, his martial arts has improved but it caused his state of mind to deteriorate .In order to make himself truly believe that his body is possessed he has to temporary give up on the control of his mind. And all the daily fright and distrust that he always used his intellect to suppress, takes this time to invade him. Every time Jiu Di enters ‘God’s Descent’ it is like falling into an abyss of darkness making it very hard for him to endure. Relying on his strong obsession of getting stronger allows him to prevail. And when Tong Jin appeared he feels that there is a small light in his dark abyss soothing his pain. Relying on this light as guidance, every time he exits ‘God’s Power’ it gets easier for him to return back to normal . Also , all of his fatigue recovers faster. Even Jiu Di himself finds it unimaginable. Jiu Di seems to have an unexplainable favorable impression of Tong Jing. At this moment, Jiu Di is facing an imaginary Jing Lie. He is imagining Jing Lie in his ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ stance, he has seen him used it during their previous battle. Though Jiu Di cannot figure out the strength and the possible variations by relying on this stance and just 1 experience in battle, he compensates by using his years of experience. He managed to deduce that such a blade strike is an all-or-nothing blade strike. Jiu Di knows that if he can take on this strike, he wins. But he evaluates that he cannot. If he cannot take it head on, he can dodge it. But the problem is that if Jing Lie fully recovers, this blade will be more powerful and harder to dodge. Tong Jing is then very surprised when Jiu Di is able to guess that the blade strike is related to waves. Jiu Di wants Tong Jin to show her the blade strike and forces her to attack him. Tong Jing doesn’t want to reveal Jing Lie blade strike and instead uses her own skills to attack. But every time she changes her stance, Jiu Di is always 1 step ahead to counter her stance. When she has exhausted all of her move sets and can’t come up with new variations, she starts trying to counter Jiu Di stance. She enters a stance which she has never learn before; it looks weak , she looks like she can’t even stand properly. But in the eyes of an expert, she is like water, forming this based on the situation. Jiu Di is surprised by her extraordinary talent. She then goes into a stance very similar to Jing Lie ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’. This excites Jiu Di to go in ‘Gods Descend’. Initially he has no intention of harming her but he delves deeper into darkness because of ‘God’s Descend’. And at this moment, Tong Jing seemingly glows in light guiding Jiu Di out of ‘Gods Descend’. Jiu Di screams looking as if he is in pain. Even though they are enemies she pities him because he has turned himself into this painful state just for the sake of martial arts. She tries to convince him to not fight Jing Lie. But Jiu Di retorts saying that martial arts practitioners don’t need a reason to fight. That’s when she realizes that all he wants is to be victorious, like Wudang Sect, like Jing Lie. Jiu Di is willing to not fight Jing Lie if Tong Jing voluntarily becomes his disciple. Other than wanting to prove his skills to the world, he is worried about his successor. Even though there are thousands of Mi Zong Sect disciples, no one is truly capable enough to learn his ‘Gods Descend’. Even Han Shan Hu is not guaranteed to be able to fully master it. Tong Jing is having a lot of conflicting thoughts. She doesn’t know if Jing Lie will recover but at the same time ‘Gods Descend’ is detrimental to one’s mind. Still she admires his martial arts. Jiu Di doesn’t need her to acknowledge now. Tong Jing leaves. She notices Han Shan Hu kissing and groping a female member and leaves. Han Shan Hu heard the conversation earlier and is determined to destroy Tong Jing.
-At Mt Wudang. Xi Xiao Yan is attending to the injured. As she is tending to Ye Chen Yuan’s son, Hou Ying Zhi visits him. The Imperial Army has ordered villagers to widen the mountain road , so as to make it easier for the cannons to be moved upwards. Yao Lian Zhou ordered teams to attack the army . Even though the teams hindered the army, they were suffering too many casualties and thus Lian Zhou stopped this plan. Ying Zhi and Xi Xiao Yan head outside to talk. She is happy whenever he visits her. She wonders if he came to see her. She tells him that he is her best friend. This reminds him of Yan Heng, he is angry at Yan Heng for being this well known while he is still a nobody in Wudang. He doesn’t want to lose to Yan Heng and wants to be famous through this battle. He has this impulse to kiss Xi Xiao Yan, just like how he kissed Song Li in the past. He did that because he was unable to accept that Yan Heng is stronger. He wonders if he is having this current impulse is because she is Lian Zhou’s woman or that he really loves her. He then leaves. Xi Xiao Yan is requested to be brought to see Lian Zhou.
- When Xi Xiao Yan enters the room . Lian Zhou is speaking with 2 ex Wudang Sect members, They are from the same generation as Gong Sun Qing who left when Sun Qing decided to take Wudang Sect down this path. Lian Zhou has decided to sent away all the females, children and members who cannot fight high up to where the ex Wudang Sect members are. Lian Zhou’s plan is that should they win this battle, Shi Xing Hao will pay the Emperor a visit and explain why they cannot accept the Imperial Decree. Xing Hao himself is 70 % confident that it can succeed. If this fails they will continue fighting. Lian Zhou hugs Xi Xiao Yan , she wonders if she started regretting coming here . And at this moment she is worrying about Yuan Zhi.
-Jing Lie has his casts removed. He is feeling a lot better. Together with the rest, they walk to the river. Yan Heng, Dai Kui, Xing Ying and a few others are keeping watch outside the inn where Mi Zong Sect are. Many of the town folks are getting a glimpse of Jing Lie. They know of the upcoming duel between him and Jiu Di. They kind of look at him like a hero. Yin Ying Feng is talking to his most senior disciple. He mentions that before the fight he will challenge Jiu Di using the title of the Leader of 1 of the 9 Great Sects. He tells him not to get revenge should he fail. If that happens his most senior disciple is to bring all of the rest of 8 Trigrams Sect back. The reason Ying Feng is doing this is because he made a promise to Yang Ming and intends to honor it to the end. Ying Feng feels that if he can defeat Jiu Di, that is good. If he cannot ,at least he can drain Jiu Di strength as well as let Jing Lie observe the fight to get a closer look at Jiu Di martial arts. He is confident that he can force Jiu Di to reveal his martial arts. He tells his disciple not to tell this to the rest. These 10 days Fei Hong has been telling Jing Lie everything that has happened in the fight at night in the forest with Jiu Di. Yuan Xing feels that in terms of overall martial arts ,Jing Lie is not on the same level as Jiu Di but his ‘Lang Hua Zhan Tie Shi’ is capable of duking it out with any expert .In the past when Jing Lie used it, he was injured and its potential wasn’t fully realized. It now depends on how Jing Lie can elevate the blade strike.
-When all the young and elderly are preparing to head up. Lian Zhou visits Xi Xiao Yan, she asks if all of them could abandon fighting and escape up the mountain. He agrees and orders all of Wudang Sect to retreat upwards.
-Jiang Ni Er (the crippled guy who gave Hou Ying Zhi the wine to drink after his first training session)is revealed to be the Jin Yi Wei (Imperial Military Police) spy. He succeeded in sending a pigeon to inform the imperial army that Wudang Sect has decided to retreat higher up the mountains. But at this moment Fan Zong and another ‘He She’ member appear, they have seen that the carrier pigeon’s flying style is different from wild pigeons. Fan Zong questions Ni Er when did he started betraying Wudang Sect. It all started when Wudang Sect first started their conquest that the Imperial State has started observing the situation. They have been looking for the opportunity to enlist a informer .They found Ni Er and though initially he did waver , the one who convinced him wasn’t the Jin Yi Wei but another guy (I guess Shang Shi Xiong?). But Ni Er did not mention all of these to Fan Zong. Ni Er is surprised that Lian Zhou would lie to Xiao Yan, he always thought that Lian Zhou is a simple martial artist. They start talking about glort, pride etc . Then Ni Er mentions that If the invincible Wudang Sect was ruined by his hands, wouldn’t it be considered as another kind of amazing achievement? Ni Er commits suicide despite Fan Zong trying to stop him. Throughout the talk Ni Er has been laughing,Ni Er’s laughter reminds Fan Zong of a certain someone but he can’t remember who it is
- At the inn where Mi Zong Sect is. 1 more day before the duel. Tong Jing is on her bed, she seems to be hearing the actual sound of waves. She doesn’t think that it is attributed to her memories of the time Yan Heng, Jing Lie and Ling Lan spent on the boat. She then sits down cross-legged. She gathers her mind to imagine that underneath her left hand is river water and that her arm is floating on the water surface. Her arm then starts to rise as if it is floating on water. She feels that it is easier to raise her arm and underneath her arm there really seems to be a icy cold feeling. She feels that this is Jie Xiang. In the past she asked Yan Heng, Jing Lie and Fei Hong to teach her but has been unable to learn. She knows that by spending the past few days watching Jiu Di practicing ‘God’s Power’ which emit ‘evil energy’, she has unknowingly increased her mental thinking skills. However she is worried that she will be influenced by his ‘evilness’ and becomes like him after a long period of usage. She starts thinking about the offer and of Yan Heng. She made a decision that the next time she sees Yan Heng she will tell him her feelings. Han Shan Hu enters after being noticed by her. She remembers the evil perverted smile that he has that day. He is here to kill her and has no guilt defying Jiu Di .He starts thinking of 5 years back when he and Jiu DI were training in Shan Dong.. Back when Jiu Di was practicing ‘God’s Power’ ,because of his large ego and pride, he never believed in spirits and gods. Thus he cannot hypnotize himself to ask ‘gods to possess him’.Thus he relied on White Lotus cult pills to cause his intellect to decrease. Because the source of these pills are unknown and may damage the mind and body, Jiu Di is suspicious about it. In order to gain Jiu Di trust, Shan Hu volunteered to try the pills. There was once when Jiu Di overdosed and lost consciousness. Back then there are a few people trying to take advantage to kill him but Shan Hu fended them off. Finally he gained Jiu Di trust and got him to impart his skills to him. Before leaving Shang Dong, Jiu Di promised Shan Hu that he is the next leader of Mi Zong Sect. Shan Hu is unable to accept that in his eyes he is not the most suitable person for the title of Leader of Mi Zong Sect. Initially he wanted to tie Tong Jing up and violate her first before killing her, but now that she has noticed him, it is not possible. He then attacks Tong Jing.
-As he is slashing Tong Jing, she throws an object at his wrists. He stops his attack and goes into a horse stance but the plate tile slices flesh off his little finger. Previously she stole a plate ,broke it down , sharpened it and kept it as a weapon. She unknowingly fuse Kong Tong Sect “Song Hun Flying Edge” and Wudang Sect “Zhui Xing Jie Mai” to create a new move. Shan Hu wanted to do a second slash but she suddenly jumped towards him forcing him to slightly retreat, but this is a feint as she wants to extend the distance between the both of them. Tong Jing then jumps horizontally while throwing another tile at him, intending to stall him. But as he is experienced in battles, he sees that this move of hers doesn’t threaten him much. So he rushes forward attempting to dodge the tile while slashing her. The tile still slices his right cheekbones. She then realizes that she cannot make it to the window in time and so she sticks out her chest while pulling in her back. The blade strike slices her dress revealing her left shoulder. The sight of her naked shoulder excites him, making him enter ‘Gods Descend’ mod striking at her. ( He has violated many women in Shan Dong) But at this moment Jiu Di enters and interferes . Tong Jing picks up that part of her dress to cover her shoulders. Shan Hu tries to lie but fail, he then suggests that Jiu Di betroth her to him so that she will be considered as a Mi Zong Sect member. Tong Jing looks frightened as Jiu Di is considering this. She rebuts saying that Shan Hu humiliated her and if Jiu Di kills him she will willingly become his disciple. Before this, Jiu DI is in the process of practicing ‘Gods Power’ and thus his senses are very sharp which is why he is the 1st to arrive. But this also means that his mental condition is not yet stable. Upon hearing this, he is in a state of euphoria and is only thinking of getting this done fast. He attacks Shan Hu. Shan Hu dodges 2, blocks 1 but got slashed at the 4th strike. Shan Hu attempts to block another slash but due to Jiu Di’s overwhelming strength, the back of Shan Hu’s blade hits his forehead. Shan Hu enters ‘Gods Descend’ and duke it out with Jiu Di, but after 7 strikes he exits ‘Gods Descend’ ( he cannot maintain it for long) and gets slashed. But at this moment more Mi Zong Sect Member enter. Zeng Qing Feng (Mi Zong Sect guy from volume 11) asks what happened. Jiu Di seems to be unable to reply. Shan Hu lies saying that Jiu Di was violating Tong Jing when he arrived and Jiu Di attacked him. Jiu Di rages and wants to attack Shan Hu but there are many other Mi Zong Sect members between the both of them. Tong Jing rebuts saying that it is Shan Hu who wanted to humiliate her. Shan Hu once again lie saying that in Shang Dong, Jiu Di captured virgin girls to practice unorthodox martial arts. He then accuses Jiu Di of killing the disciples that went with him when they attacked Po Men Liu Jian in the previous volume. Shan Hu doesn’t know that this is the truth and is just merely adding oil to the fire. Qing Feng attempts to diffuse the situation by saying that some things cannot be tolerated and if Jiu Di sincerely wants to repent he should kill Tong Jing and they will never speak about it again. But Jiu Di laughs ,from the past till now the reason he has reached to where he is today, is because he has never believed that he has to yield and to obey anyone. Jiu Di tells them “Do you all think that you are the future Mi Zong Sect? No, she is. As long as she agrees to be my disciple, Mi Zong Sect hopes are on her. All of you are even more worthless than ants when compared to her. I won’t even frown even if it means exchanging 300 of your lives for hers. I am the leader of Mi Zong Sect. To change this fact you must not only move your mouths. If you want to move, move your hands.” Jiu DI throws 3 darts at Shan Hu, but Shan Hu knowing Jiu Di’s character was ready to dodge it. Shan Hu taunts the rest to kill Jiu Di to preserve Mi Zong Sect name. Zeng Qing Feng decides to get Jiu DI and shouts towards the others that they should kill Jiu Di to preserve Mi Zong Sect’s name. They attacks Jiu DI.
- Outside the inn. Yan Heng, Xing Ying , Dai Kui and others are attacking the inn after hearing the sounds coming from the inn. During the fight, Yan Heng imagines a certain violent creature, doing a strike 70 % similar to He Zi Sheng’s ‘Shaking Scales’ (The move that He Zi Sheng used to counter Ye Chen Yuan’s Tai Ji). He once rejected Song Li because of his plans of getting revenge for Qing Cheng Sect. But now the weight of Tong Jing in his heart seemingly exceeds the weight of Qing Cheng Sect. Yan Heng enters the inn and passes a few Mi Zong sect members running away muttering that their Leader is indeed crazy. Yan Heng sees Jiu Di and Tong Jing behind Jiu Di. When Tong Jing and Yan Heng eyes connect, it seems that the whole world belongs to them. There are lots of cuts on Jiu Di and he is losing a lot of blood. Tong Jin is holding on to Jiu Di and on her other hand is a sword. Jiu Di looks at Yan Heng then collapsed. Tong Jing hugs Yan Heng. Dai Kui and the rests arrive. Xin Ying urges them to leave now. Tong Jing then remembers how Jiu Di was protecting her , how he was dealing with countless number of Mi Zong Sect members. During the fight she picks up a sword to defend his back, but is unable to prevent all the slashes on him. Jiu Di even turn back to make sure that she is not injured at all, he did this even as he got more cuts on him as time passed. Tong Jing wants to bring Jiu Di back. All of them are surprised but Yan Heng, without a word carries Jiu Di up with the help of Dai Kui. They all go back.
- 800 300 Division Cavalry are protecting Eunuch Zhang Yong at the foot of Mt Wudang. While the rest arrived outside Yu Zhen Palace during evening time. General Lou Yuan Sheng, the commander in charge of the formation in the front orders the Divine Engine Division to position themselves at 3 sides surrounding Yu Zhen Palace. Even though he saw the informant report he still sent scouts who reported silence at Yu Zhen Palace. In order to prevent enemies attacking in the night , he orders his formation to keep a distance and attack only in the morning.
- Lian Zhou and the others are mediating. He is thinking about the fact that he lied to Xiao Yan. It is as if his hard spirit has been scratched. Even though it was for the sake of the plan , a lie is still a lie. He thought that loving someone is a simple thing. But apparently not. After that day he has never gone to visit her. His breathing starts to mess up but he gains it back quickly. All he can do now is to visit her after this battle. Another feeling arises from him, it is the same feeling as when he wanted to protect her in the brothel; the pleasure to fight for some else, its different feeling from fighting for yourself. Now he understands the reason why he falls in love with Xiao Yan. He is then told that Shi Xing Hao has disappeared. He knows that Xing Hao has gone to do something that he cannot stop him now that he has to be here.
-Shi Xing Hao, carrying a spear enters the prison. He walks up to the cell holding Shang Cheng Yu and stands outside the gate. (Shang Shi Xiong real name is revealed to be Shang Cheng Yu) Even though he doesn’t specialize in spears, as head of ‘Zhen Gui’ Division who is in charge of training Wudang disciples. And the fact that he is of the same generation as Gong Sun Qing, his spear skills won’t lose to any spear experts in the sect. Cheng Yu is sitting down, he has wide shoulders but his shoulders lack the developed muscles a martial artist should have, as if he has not practice martial arts for a very long time. His hair is flowing down to his waist.
At both of his shoulder blades is a iron ring and latched on the it is a iron chain. Which is linked to a thick leather belt at his waist, which is in turn linked to his legs. It is hard for him to use strength. He cannot get rid of the chains and it is extremely difficult to move his hands to his back , if he uses force to try and take it away , his joints will be shattered. Moreover there are short chains linking his chains to the ground. As a result he cannot really walk around, not to mention practice martial arts. His eyes reveal a wild desire, unlike someone who has been jailed for 7 years. He is able to deduce that it is Xing Hao through his footsteps. Xing Hao intends to kill Cheng Yu today. He tells Xing Hao that even till today Lian Zhou still doesn’t dare to use his own hands to end his dirty job, but rather to ask Xing Hao to do it. Xing Hao then reveals that Lian Zhou is the one who doesn’t want to kill him and that he came here against Lian Zhou orders to kill Cheng Yu. And that 7 years ago he was the one who poisoned Cheng Yu before the duel. Upon hearing this, Cheng Yu turns around. The unusually thing is that when he moves, the chains make only a small clanking sound. This shows that despite so many years his Ting Jing ability and Tai Ji ‘Softening’ reaction is still there. Even Xing Hao is alarmed. Many years ago when Wudang Sect attacked Wu Yi Cult, Chen Yu who is then 17 is the youngest member of the ‘Wudang 38 Swords’. After Gong Sun Qing set up the 3 divisions, he is the 1st ‘He She’ member as well as the strongest genius after Wudang Sect was revamped. He is the future successor of Wudang Sect; at least until before Lian Zhou grew up. Even though Cheng Yu like Gon Sun Qing used Wu Yi cult drugs, he used it to control others and to gather members like Wu Ji Hong, Mei Xin Shu etc as if they were his ‘army’ . He created a faction within Wudang Sect. Cheng Yu is often at odds with Sun Qing’s opinion. Especially the 3th commandment. He starts drifting apart from Sun Qing. Xing Hao advised Sun Qing to expel Cheng Yu but he disagrees. He believes in the way of using martial arts to decide Wudang’s future. Sun Qing then set up the Vice Leaders titles and in the end he choose to die under Lian Zhou instead of Cheng Yu. This is a humiliation to Cheng Yu. He then had a duel with Lian Zhou 3 days later. But before they had the closed door duel, he was drugged and was whacked unconscious during the duel. Xing Hao fabricated documents that Cheng Yu had already accepted to be a general in the Imperial Court .And should he becomes the Leader he will have Wudang Sect train the army. Xing Hao suggests killing Cheng Yu but Lian Zhou disagrees saying that since he couldn’t kill Cheng Yu that day, he cannot sentence him to death. And should anyone wants to kill him they will have to challenge him for the title of Vice Leader. But no one did,. Xing Hao and Chen Yuan eliminate all the things about Cheng Yu. Wu Ji Hong and co ran from Wudang Sect. Slowly people have forgotten about him. Chen Yu questions Xing Hao motives in doing this. Xing Hao replies it’s because he understand him, Xing Hao knows that martial arts isn’t what he is seeking and should he become leader he will transform Wudang Sect into something else and that to him is a traitor. Xing Hao is confident in Lian Zhou’s ability and that Cheng Yu is no match for him but Xing Hao doesn’t want to take any risk. “Being invincible’ is his dream, he will not allow any changes and for this he is willing to accept any punishment. 7 years ago Cheng Yu abilities exceeded that of Xing Hao but now after being chained for 7 years… Initially Lian Zhou wanted Xing Hao to lead the Bing Ya Division under the conquest to be invincible. But after a year he resigned , letting Chen Yuan lead the Bing Ya division. It’s because he kept on thinking that he once poisoned Cheng Yu ,thus he feels that he simply doesn’t have the qualifications to represent Wudang Sect. After saying all these it feels like a pressure is off his back. He then proceeds to attack Cheng Yu.
- Xing Hao does a feint, first he thrusts his spear outwards but halfway through he forcefully pulls it back. Using the reverse motion of his twisting body to thrust out the spear at faster speed, this time aiming at Cheng Yu thigh. Xing Hao extents the spear to end but there isn’t the feeling of it hitting Cheng Yu’s body like he predicted, neither did the spear meet with resistance. But rather there is no feeling. But Xing Hao is used to this feeling of no having feeling many times, this is ‘Ying Xing Luo Kong’ being used. Cheng Yu stands up from the ground with his horse stance pretty low. He is hugging on to the front part of the spear, moving it to the empty space at the side of his leg before using Tai Ji neutralizing power to borrow Xing Hao thrusting force to pull the spear towards him. Cheng Yu saw through Xing Hao feint from the start. Xing Hao loses his balance and has to take 1 big step to regain his balance. Given Xing Hao Listening Power ability, usually when he encounters this sudden ‘re-direction’, he can come up with a counter. But at this moment he has to ‘remedy’ his move. Other than practicing with Lian Zhou this has never happened for a long time. This shows that Cheng Yu Tai Ji is still above Xing Hao’s after all these years. Xing Hao is thinking that Cheng Yu can’t exert strength which is why he ‘re-directed’ the attack away. And so if he use force to jerk his spear back he can pry the spear back. But when Xing Hao is using strength to pull his spear back, he feels a force taking advantage of the pulling force incoming towards him. This surprises Xing Hao again; that Cheng Yu is using force. Actually at that point in time, Xing Hao has another option which is to abandon his spear and to plan again. But having used Tai Ji for 30 plus years, his first reaction will be to change his pulling force to 1 side to ‘re-direct’ Cheng Yu attack to the side. This is a fatal mistake. Cheng Yu is using force not because he wants to push Xing Hao back . But rather Cheng Yu wants him to make Tai Ji reaction and to stay in the position for awhile longer. Just as Xing Hao is about to use ‘Ying Xing Luo Kong’ , Cheng Yu abandons the spear and rushes forward towards the gate. This is the 3th time Xing Hao is surprised ; the chains are already broken, which means that from the start Cheng Yu can walk around freely. Cheng Yu grabs Xing Hao’s left wrist and elbow. By the time Xing Hao releases the spear to resist, Cheng Yu crushes his left elbow joint. After which he punches Xing Hao face . Xing Hao attempts to attack Cheng Yu left eye, Cheng Yu dodges it before clutching Xing Hao throat. His ice cold appearance finally changes into a berserk angry look. He screams, unleashing his seven years of hatred. With his left feet supporting on the iron gate, he pulls half of Xing Hao body through the iron gate. Xing Hao shoulder joints and bones break. He then takes a step back to admire Xing Hao. He puts his hand forward towards Xing Hao . Xing Hao uses his last bit of strength and bites Cheng Yu arm. Still he does nothing. Even though he hates Xing Hao, he admires his determination. Finally Xin Hao dies. He takes the key from Xing Hao and escapes. Cheng Yu can break out of the chains because of a liquid from Wu Yi Cult given by Ning Er to erode it.
-When Gong Sun Qing attacked Wu Yui Cult. Only 5 out of the ‘38 Swords’ survive. Chen Dai Xin’s uncle passed away due to illness. Zhon Chao died in a duel because of a junior mistake. Mo Ling Yun passed away 3 years ago. Now only Cheng Yu and Chen Yuan are left.. About 700 foot soldiers enter Yu Zhen Palace. 1 of the soldiers screams and then disappear. The soldiers in the front stop while those in the back who didn’t see what happened moves forward, creating a mess. A few more disappear. The soldiers then realize that the tile below has given way and underneath is a hole. At this moment many tiles gets pushed open and Wudang members start appearing. The first line of ‘Shou She’ members start throwing daggers at the soldiers. The heavily armored soldiers raises their shield to defend giving Wudang members the opportunity to go into formation and attack. Lian Zhou is leading the formation with about eighty men. At his sides are 42 spear users. Slightly behind him are Gui Dan Lei and Chu Lan Tian. Chu Lan Tian is the guy who Shi Xing Hao brought with him when he visited the Emperor. Both of their arms are wrapped with leather and they are tasked with protecting Lian Zhou. Behind the both of them are others. 200 other soldiers arrive and when they saw that their heavy armored comrades are being slaughtered , they hurriedly let their archers take position. But Jiang Yun Lan who is taking the place of Shi Xing Hao is leading others to attack them. Thus the army is unable to attack Lian Zhou’s group. Ye Cheng Yuan is leading another group to attack the western side of soldiers. At the side are 10 archers having the opportunity to shoot, once Chen Yuen realize this, he unknowingly combines ‘Female & Male, Dragon & Tiger Sword’technique’s ‘Qiong Cang Po’ with Wudang flying dragon sword technique. He feels that he has reached a new peak in his martial arts, and wonders if he challenges Lian Zhou now who will win?
-Hou Ying Zhi is now wearing the Bing Ya Division uniform. 2 days ago Chen Yuan gave him the uniform saying that it was Lian Zhou idea. At that moment he believes that he has surpassed Yan Heng of ‘Dao Chuan Disciple’. He is surprised as he always thought that he is nothing in Lian Zhou eyes. But Lian Zhou is actually observing his performance. At that point in time, he has forgotten about his dissatisfaction towards Lian Zhou. But this doesn’t mean that he will willingly fight for him.
-The general is seeing the slaughter. He never expected Wudang to be this strong. Because both parties are mingled together he cannot order for the cannons strike. He is able to deduce that as the troops retreat from Yu Zhen Palace, Wudang Sect can easily attack the troops on his side . And with both parties mingled together it will reduce the effectiveness of the cannons. And when that happens… After much thought he gives the order to fire the cannons.
-Xiao Yan is glancing down at the area of Yu Zhen Palace. She hears the sound of explosions. She is wondering why she is here and starts to running down.
- Upon hearing the cannons sound, the Wudang members disperse and retreat to the holes where they came from. The troops in Yu Zhen Palace are running away while cursing the general. The Divine Engine Division is aiming their guns at the palace 3 exits, shooting whoever who exit .Lian Zhou & co are thinking that transporting the troops and cannons up the mountain is no easy task. And the Imperial Army probably won’t think that Wudang Sect has a way to deal with the cannons, and so the troops shouldn’t have much gun powder. They are gambling on waiting until the Army runs out of gunpowder. Chu Lan Tian and Gui Dan Lei are using shields to cover Lian Zhou’s head. A cannon lands nearby, killing Lan Tian and a couple others . Lian Zhou is filled with deep sorrow; to think that Lan Tian who spent so many years perfecting his skills to such a level died in a second. At this point many Wudang members have died.
-All the troops who are trying to escape have been shot to death at the exit. But at this time the whole ‘He She’ squad is attacking. In the last volume, Fan Zong was sure that the other 3 ‘He She’ members who were at the other side of the army were all dead. But by using basic math in this volume, only 1 out of the 3 died. All of them know that this is their last mission. They are in the formation described below , ignore the x cause if I removed them it will screw up.
1, 2 ,3 are throwing daggers, and using blades to open up a path. 4 and 5 are caring shields. 6 ,the one who is best at close quarter combat is holding on to 2 blades. ( They didn’t mention which one of 1,2,3 are on the left or right, so I just assume ) Their job is to protect Fan Zong so that he can kill the general. Once they are among the troops, they are not worried about being shot. The troops know that they are after the general and so they gather at where he is. After fighting for so long, they get tired and this affects 1,2,3 throwing accuracy. So they start relying on their blades. 3 dies. Around 10 feet away from the general, 2 and 5 die. This strategy isn’t Lian Zhou’s idea but Fan Zong’s. He evaluates that in this battle ‘He She’ will be most effective in this situation. The other 6 agree. The general refuses to move and chooses to believe in his soldiers to protect him. If he moves, the whole army will move and since he cannot effectively give commands he may lose the advantage of surrounding Yu Zhen Palace. Around 7 feet away ,1 knows that he cannot last long and so he moves to the left side killing 3 more men. The troops thinking that they are changing direction start to attack him. Then he dies. 4 gets pierced by 10 plus spears and dies. Leaving 6 to open the path for Fan Zong. Fan Zong did not help 4 at all. Previously they agree that they would protect Fan Zong, the strongest ‘He She’ member till the end. The general starts to waver , questioning if it is worth dying for such a Imperial Court? 6 gets pierce by 3 spears, knowing that he is at his limit, he uses all his strength to catapult Fan Zong forward. Before the general can tell his 2-IC to take command, Fan Zong throws both of his daggers at the general. One hitting the General’s chest and the other into his right eye, killing him. But while doing so Fan Zong got pierced by 20 plus spears. He is not sure if the general is dead. He wonders if anyone will remember this glorious event. He doesn’t know and dies.
Preview for the next volume:
Lei Jiu Di who is heavily injured and abandoned by his sect is being saved by Po Men Liu Jian. How will both sides resolve their hatred?
The battle at Yu Zhen Palace gets more intense. Can Wudang Sect survie against the formidable gun fire?
It will all end.
Comments (because I got no one else in the real world to talk to regarding this >.>) : I was surprised that Wu Ji Hong wasn’t lying about the whole ‘Shang Cheng Yu was poisoned’ story. At least Yao Lian Zhou doesn’t know about this. With the ’38 Wudang Swords’ being brought up a few times , I wonder if there will be very few Wudang members left at the end. I’m thinking that this battle will be a good way to give Yao Lian Zhou a handicap in his future battles against Po Men Liu Jian. Be it him losing 1 arm, or with Xiao Yan dying. I really get a feeling that she will die. I think that Ye Chen Yuan will be dealt a permanent handicap in his future duel against Yao Lian Zhou (or perhaps even this battle). This way it will be symbolic if he gets killed by Yan Heng but not defeated by him; Chen Yuan himself believes that he did not defeat He Zi Sheng but merely killed him. And above all else I hope Ying Zhi will not join the Prince of Ning/Shang Cheng Yu side. I’m going to hate it if the Ying Zhi/Yan Heng rivalry follow such a cliché road.
Since 1 + year ago, the author slowed down his writing speed releasing only 2 volumes per year. So I suggest you check back here in about 5-6 months time. Or if you are confident that the author will revert back to 3 volumes per year, you can check back around 3-4 months time. Well ,assuming you even remember about this manhua by then. I will try my best to translate the next volume as fast as I can, but no guarantees.
No problem, I've checked every day for an update so what's one more day right
Besides I for one am very grateful for the time and effort it took you to give us yet another great summary!
Going to read it now, I'll be sure to comment on it later...
For those who still care about this, the latest novel was released about 4+ months ago. I got the novel quite some time ago but was too busy to regularly translate, I have got more free time on my hands for the past few days and I am nearly done. However as I don't have access to my PC for the next few days, the earliest that I can upload is 29 December.
Anyway here are the updated covers:
Note: I do not own the images, I just found them in the facebook pages, e-bookstores etc.
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Whos that: Yin Xiao Yan (Servant girl from the brothel)
Volume 5
Who's that: Should be young Jing Lie
Volume 6
Volume 7
Who's that : WDK
Who's that: Should be Wang Shou Ren
Volume 8
Who's that: I think it's Yuan Xing
Who's that: Should be Huo Yao Hua
Volume 9
Volume 10
Who's that: Xi Xiao Yan ( Wudang Sect's Bing Ya Division Fighter)
Volume 11
Who's that: Mi Zong Sect's Leader : "Yun Yin Shen Xing" Lei Jiu Di . (Yun Yin Shen Xing can be translated to something like Hidden Cloud God Walk)
Volume 12
Volume 13
Volume 14
Gaea's edition back covers does not contain any characters. Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 7
Who's that: Lian Fei Hong
Volume 8
Who's that : Jing Lie's attire at the end of the novel.
Volume 9
Who's that : Ye Chen Yuan ( 1 of the 3 Wudang Sect's vice leaders. In Charge of Bing Ya Division.)
Volume 10
Who's that : I suppose it's Xi Xiao Yan
Volume 11
Volume 12
Volume 13
Volume 14
Volume 1
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9
Volume 10
---------- Post added December 27, 2014 at 02:58 AM ---------- Previous post was December 20, 2014 at 01:48 AM ----------
!@#*&% ughh just when I am able to use my pc it crashes >.> Hopefully it will be fixed by Monday and that my HDD will be alright, if so I will be able to upload it by the end of next week. If not then I will have to see how it goes..
---------- Post added January 06, 2015 at 12:39 AM ---------- Previous post was December 27, 2014 at 02:58 AM ----------
This volume was released mid July, but I got it quite some time later. I expected it to finish this somewhere in December 2014 but it took longer than I expected. I know my weird style of summary-dialogues-direct-translation can be a little weird to read sometimes but enjoy =)
Some of you may notice that I translate names a little different from the official way. Eg. Xi Xiao Yan vs Xi Xiaoyan. Xi Xiaoyan is the proper way. Xi is the surname and Xiaoyan is the given name. The reason I split up the given name’s characters is because it will be easier to pronounce the names. For those who do not know chinese you may find it difficult to figure out how to pronounce the given names when they are bunched together. Hence I split them up. This method of translation isn’t exactly wrong as well, as it is done when teachers want to make teaching how to read Han Yu Pin Yin easier (at least this is how it is done in my country).
Volume 14
Character List
Po Men Liu Jian:
Yan Heng: From Qing Cheng Sect
Jing Lie : From Nan Hai Hu Zhun Sect
Ling Lan : From Japan
Tong Jing: Daughter of the Head of Ming Jiang Gang
Lian Fei Hong : ex-leader of Kong Tong Sect.
Yuan Xing: Shaolin Monk
Wudang Sect:
Yao Lian Zhou: Leader
Ye Chen Yuan: Vice leader, head of Bing Ya Division
Shi Xing Hao: Vice leader, head of Zhen Gui Division
Shang Cheng Yu: Previously known as Shang Shi Xiong. The 3rd Vice Leader of Wudang. Also known as the Traitor of Wudang. 1st member of the ‘He She’ elites of Shou She Division.
Xi Xiao Yan (M): Guy with the long arm from Bing Ya div.
Jiang Yun Lan: From Bing Ya Div. Has a metal claw on his left hand.
Hou Ying Zhi: Yan Heng’s friend. Originally from Qing Cheng Sect but joined Wudang Sect after Qing Cheng Sect’s destruction.
Wei Dong Liu: New character. From Bing Ya Division. Was there when Wudang Sect challenged Qing Cheng Sect
Jiao Hong Ye: Part of the team that Gui Dan Lei brought with him to find Yao Lian Zhou in Xi An. He was the one whose wrist was injured by Tong Jing in Xi An
Li Dong: Part of the team that Gui Dan Lei brought with him to find Yao Lian Zhou in Xi An. Lost to Yuan Xing in Xi An. Spear user.
Fu Yuan Ba: Part of the team that Gui Dan Lei brought with him to find Yao Lian Zhou in Xi An.
Shang Si Lang: Part of the team that Gui Dan Lei brought with him to find Yao Lian Zhou in Xi An. Lost to Yuan Xing in Xi An.
Gui Dan Lei: From Zheng Gui Div. Defeated Yin Ying Chuan at Xi An. The big guy.
Chen Dai Xiu: Part of the team that Gui Dan Lei brought with him to find Yao Lian Zhou in Xi An.
Fan Zong: From Shou She Division’s elite ‘He She’.
Yang Zhen Ru: Originally from Emei Sect. Defected to Wudang Sect after Emei Sect’s surrender.
Xi Xiao Yan (F): Not to be confused with the Xi Xiao Yan above. Maid from the brothel that Lian Zhou brought back with him from Xi An.
Prince of Ning’s gang:
Wu Ji Hong : Previously known as WDK (Wave Dragon Technique King). I will use the name Wu Ji Hong instead of WDK because in the novel the author is using Wu Ji Hong instead of Wave Dragon Technique King. In this novel only Ling Lan & Yao Hua call him WDK.
Imperial Court:
Emperor
Song Li : Originally from Qing Cheng Sect. Now a concubine of the Emperor.
Imperial Army:
Cheng Quan Li: Deputy General. New character.
Zhang Xiu: Military Officer. New character
Kong Tong Sect:
Xing Ying : Lian Fei Hong’s disciple.
8 Trigrams Sect:
Yin Ying Feng: Leader
Xin Yi Sect:
Dai Kui : Challenged Jing Lie to a table top duel in Xi An and lost. After which he became close with Po Men Liu Jian
Mi Zong Sect:
[*]'Yun Ying Shen Xing’ Lei Jiu Di : Leader. Yun Ying Shen Xing can be translated into Cloud Hidden God Walk.
Han Shan Hu: Only Mi Zong Sect member to learn ‘Gods Power’.
Xiang Dragon Sect:
Pang Tian Shun: Fought Yan Heng in volume 10. In the volume 12, together with Dai Kui and Xing Ying they attempt to find Po Men Liu Jian.
Others:
Huo Yao Hua: Ex bandit. Was once part of WDK’s group before deciding to leave him. Now she is with Ling Lan and Xi Xiao Yan(M) on their way up to Mt Wudang.
Yan You Fo: Exceptional doctor. Friend of Yin Ying Chuan, asked by him to heal Jing Lie. Previous volume I just mentioned him as the doctor.
Some important terminology in this volume:
Jie Xiang: A technique whereby the user uses the power of imagination to increase the user’s capabilities.
[*]God’s Power: It is similar to Jie Xiang, just that it is a speedy method using incantations and rituals to numb the mind, completely giving oneself to that imagined God while usually losing control.
God’s Descend: God’s Power + Jie Xiang. Basically it is using Jie Xiang to imagine a Demon God.
Bing Ya Division: 1 of Wudang Sect 3 divisions. They are the ones who travel around to challenge other sects in Wudang Sect’s quest to be the Strongest. Literally means Armed Crow.
Shou She Division: 1 of Wudang Sect’s 3 divisions. They are the scouts, responsible for gaining information. Can be translated into Head Snake.
He She: Elite members of Shou She divisions. Unlike the ordinary members of Shou She Division they are adept in fighting. Literally means Brown Snake.
Divine Engine Division : 1 of the 3 Imperial Elite Military Divisions, specializes in using firearms.
3000 Division: 1 of the 3 Imperial Elite Military Divisions, consists of Cavalrymen.
5 Barracks Division: 1 of the 3 Imperial Elite Military Divisions, consists of cavalry and infantry.
Yu Zhen Palace: A place on Mt Wudang.
Wulin: Martial arts community
‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’: Jing Lie’s ultimate attack. The one where he stands on 1 leg to propel himself forward to spin his whole body to attack with his blade. It can be translated into Waves Steel Slashing Force.
Shi Su: Male martial arts junior of the person’s master.
Shi Di: Male martial arts junior.
Shi Xiong: Male martial arts senior
The story after the battle in Xi An with Yao Lian Zhou declaring that Wudang will not attack any Sect for 5 years (recap) :
Jing Lie, Hu Ling Lan , Yan Heng , Tong Jing , Dai Kui and Lian Fei Hong left Xi An together. They spent the time together by training with each other. After some time Dai Kui decided to leave to report back to his master. Since Jing Lie wanted to find a smith to sharpen their weapons, Dai Kui suggested that they go to find a famous smith named Han Shi Zi in Lu Ling.
On their way to Lu Ling , Jing Lie & co met Yuan Xing. Yuan Xing decided to stay behind to help the villagers out while the others head towards Lu Ling. Upon reaching Lu Ling, they discovered a big baddie named WDK. Also they got to know Lu Ling’s ex magistrate Wang Shou Ren who just arrived. Jing Lie and a villager decided to go recce on the enemy’s hideout. In the process the villager died and Jing Lie was severely injured but still Jing Lie managed to kill WDK’s most trusted ally; his Shi Di Mei Xin Shu. Yuan Xing then joined the rest in Lu Ling. Tong Jing named their group of 6 Po Men Liu Jian. Wang Shou Ren launched an assault comprising of Po Men Liu Jian, bandits and a group of Lu Ling’s citizens. Even though they destroyed WDK’s hideout, WDK and his lackeys escaped due to a hostage situation. Han Shi Zi is found to be alive and helped Po Men Liu Jian sharpened their weapons.
Po Men Liu Jian left Lu Ling to pay the corrupted officials who are linked to WDK’s drug business a visit. After some time, they tracked down Qian Qing, god son of Qian Ning ( Head of the Royal Guards). Fei Hong killed Qian Qing. Ling Lan left the group to find a cure for Jing Lie . 3 days later Qian Ning is notified about the death of Qian Qing and is very angry about it, he managed to convince the Emperor to issue an Imperial Decree to all major sects ordering them kill Po Men Liu Jian.
Wudang Sect refused the Imperial Decree and is the only sect to do so. Meanwhile Ling Lan encountered Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan (The male one, not the female. Previously he left Wudang Sect to find Jing Lie). They then decided to head to Wudang Sect to get the cure for Jing Lie. Qian Ning decided to help the Prince of Ning after being notified of his plans where Qian Ning is to convince the Emperor to launch an assault on Wudang Sect, so that the Prince of Ning can steal some gunpowder and cannons among other things. Qian Ning managed to convince the Emperor of launching an assault on Wudang Sect. Meanwhile Mi Zong Sect launched an attack on Po Men Liu Jian (minus Ling Lan). Po Men Liu Jian managed to escape and left the area by getting help from 8 Trigrams Sect.
The Imperial Army that was sent after Wudang was situated at the foot of Mt Wudang when the 6 ‘He She’ members infiltrate the Army Camp to list down the locations of the gunpowder. The plan was for them to ignite all the gunpowder spots when they assault the Army camp the next day. But halfway through there was an explosion and the army realized about the infiltration. Thus the ‘He She’ members have no choice but to escape. Along the way some members of ‘Bing Ya’ Division arrived to help fend off the Imperial Army while some of ‘He She’ managed to successfully escape.
The 8 Trigrams Sect and Po Men Liu Jian (minus Ling Lan) are hiding in Xiang Tan. Jing Lie is currently being treated by Yan You Fo. Lei Jiu Di together with his disciple came up a plan to discover their hiding location, which succeeded. 8 Trigrams Sect was lured out to deal with Han Shan Hu and Mi Zong Sect while Lei Jiu Di and a few of his disciples attack Po Men Liu Jian’s hiding location. Lei Jiu Di forced Jing Lie to a duel which will take place 15 days later (Jing Lie needs 15 days to recover). Lei Jiu Di needed a guarantee that Jing Lie will uphold his promise and took Tong Jing as a hostage.
Hu Ling Lan, Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan met WDK on their way up to Mt Wudang. That is when they realized Wudang Sect’s predicament. WDK is on his way to collect the gunpowder and weapons left behind by the Imperial Army, and to deliver it to the Prince of Ning once he is done. He is also on his way to rescue Shang Shi Xiong. Xi Xiao Yan and WDK clashed but WDK retreated in the end. Hu Ling Lan, Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan continued heading towards Mt Wudang.
Even though Tong Jing is kept as a hostage she is treated decently. She spent her time observing Jiu Di practicing martial arts. Every time he enters “God’s Descent’ he feels like he is entering a black abyss and it gets harder to get out every single time. But with Tong Jing around she is like the light that shines in the darkness, guiding him back out of “God’s Descent” properly. Once she tried to persuade Jiu Di to not fight Jing Lie, but Jiu Di will only agree if she becomes his disciple. Jiu Di is worried about not having a successor as not even Han Shan Hu is guaranteed to fully master “God’s Descent”. Han Shan Hu overheard Jiu Di saying this and is determined to destroy her.
It turns out Jiang Ni Er , the cripple in Wudang Sect is the spy for the Imperial Court. He sent a pigeon carrier to the Imperial Army that Wudang Sect is retreating up the mountains. This was discovered by Fan Zong and another ‘He She’ member. But before Ni Er could do anything more he committed suicide. However only the non-combatants of Wudang Sect retreated up the mountains while the rest lie in wait for the Imperial Army.
One night before the duel between Jing Lie and Jiu Di, Han Shan Hu intended to violate and kill Tong Jing. But she noticed his arrival and a fight broke out. However Jiu Di soon arrived to interfere hence stopping the fight. Shan Hu tried to lie his way out however Tong Jing mentioned that if Jiu Di kills Shan Hu she will be his disciple. Jiu Di then attacks Shan Hu , however soon more Mi Zong Sect members arrive. Shan Hu lies to the others saying that it was Jiu Di who was violating Tong Jing and in the past Jiu Di captured girls to learn unorthodox martial arts. The mass then attacked Jiu Di and Tong Jing which ended with Shan Hu escaping and many Mi Zong Sect members dead. Yan Heng , Yuan Xing and others soon arrive. Jiu Di collapses after the fight is over. Tong Jing had Yan Heng carries Jiu Di and together they return to where the others are.
While Wudang is waiting for the attack by the Imperial Army, Shi Xing Hao heads to the dungeon where Shang Cheng Yu is imprisoned. Xing Hao wants to kill Cheng Yu and revealed that 7 years ago he was the one who poisoned Cheng Yu before Cheng Yu’s duel with Lian Zhou for the position of Wudang Sect Leader, resulting in Cheng Yu being unconscious in the middle of the duel. The reason Xing Hao did this was because Cheng Yu has been drifting away from the Wudang Sect that Gong Sun Qing envisioned, Xing Hao knows that Cheng Yu is not seeking the peak of martial arts but rather power. Xing Hao fabricated documents that Cheng Yu was already a general in the Imperial Army and would have Wudang Sect train the soldiers should Cheng Yu become Wudang Sect Leader(Lian Zhou doesn’t know the truth behind all of these). Despite all these Lian Zhou refused to kill Cheng Yu, instead imprisoning him.
The fight between Cheng Yu and Xing Hao resulted in Xing Hao’s death. Before the fight Cheng Yu already had the chains that bound him removed (because of a erosive liquid that Ning Er gave him). Cheng Yu then proceeds to escape from the prison.
Wudang Sect then clashed with the Imperial Army. Hou Ying Zhi is in the Bing Ya Division. Xi Xiao Yan (F) is looking at the battle from the mountains above and starts running down towards the battlefield.
The general in charge sees how fearsome Wudang Sect is in close combat and despite having his forces mixed together with Wudang Sect he orders for the cannons strike. Wudang Sect suffers casualties however Lian Zhou and many others retreat to Yu Zhen Palace where they hide in trenches that they have dug. The whole ‘He She’ elites of the Shou She Division attack the army, with Fan Zong killing the General in charge. But this resulted in the death of all 7 ‘He She’ members.
Story
-Flashback, back to 20 years old Jiang Yun Lan. Back then to him swordplay is about killing people, even if it means his death. He was thinking that in the future there may be a need for swordplay like his style .He has been in Wudang Sect for 5 years but still has no friends. His father was a tyrant but 5 years ago his father was killed due to their clan’s internal struggle. He nearly died but he survived and joined Wudang Sect. And now 5 years later, he left to seek revenge. However when he arrived back at his old home, he found out that the ones responsible were all killed by another clan. He cried before returning back to Mt Wudang, earnestly kneeling down to be permitted to return back to Wudang Sect.
-Back to the present. Jiang Yun Lan and 80+ Wudang members are seeking shelter from the cannons fire at Yu Zhen Palace’s trench. They are waiting for the cannons fire to stop.
-To the scene where the general was killed by Fan Zong in the previous volume. The vice general is in shock and disbelief of what just happened; that 7 men managed to advance this deep to kill the general. Fear starts to spread about the nearby soldiers. The inexperienced vice general’s mind is at a blank and is unable to think of what to do next. As a result the cannon fire continue.
-Xi Xiao Yan (M), Hu Ling Lan and Huo Yao Hua has been heading toward Mt Wudang for the past few days. Initially they were riding horseback, but they later went on foot when the horses were too exhausted. And now they are on their way up to Mt Wudang . After traveling with Xi Xiao Yan(M), Ling Lan knows how close he is with Wudang and her views on Wudang has changed ; that enemies are also humans, that they also have feelings and that they will fight for their loves ones. On the other hand Yao Hua only has admiration for him. She has never found anywhere to call home, not to mention anyone to love and protect. The only time was back when both of them were defending themselves from others who mistook them to be ‘Po Men Liu Jian’. Back then she felt that they were close. Xiao Yan(M) is feeling guilty, he feels that he shouldn’t have left and that he should be fighting alongside his brothers. They then break free of the forest and into a clearing where villagers were previously summoned by the soldiers to raze the forest to the ground. The ladies got rid of the soldiers there. Xiao Yan(M) explains to Ling Lan on how to get the medicine for Jing Lie and asks her to bring Yao Hua to see Jing Lie as payment for the medicine. He also asks her to tell Jing Lei to fully recuperate so that he can defeat Jing Lie . As he is leaving, Yao Hua tells him not to die. He smiles after hearing it; to be able to hear this, he has no regrets. He then parts with the ladies.
-The cannons fire at Yu Zhen Palace start to slow down; for some of the cannons, ammunitions are being used up. Only half of the weapons and ammunition were brought up here mainly because it was very difficult to carry such heavy items up the mountain. It wasn’t easy while on the way up as soldiers have to be assigned to direct the villagers to clear the path for the cannons to be bought up here. There are also soldiers assigned to guard the rest, while some soldiers are stationed at the foot of the mountain to protect the eunuch. Currently, another vice deputy general Chen Quan Li, a more experienced general returns back to the where the previous deputy general is ,slaps him and orders for a cease fire and for the firearm troops to advance. Even though the cannons are destructive, there are limited ammo thus it cannot be solely relied upon to destroy the enemy. Especially against Wudang Sect who has such few numbers and are a group of people with such high speed. Thus the cannons can only be used as suppressing fire. To fully utilize the might of the cannons, it needs to combine with the firearm troops and the foot soldiers. In normal conditions the cannons will fire 2 more rounds before stopping, giving the soldiers time to regroup and attack. However as many cannons have expanded their ammo, they do not have the chance to regroup.
- As the cannon fire starts to dwindle. Jiang Yun Lan leads the 80+ Wudang members out of the trench towards the enemy. Even though the cannon fire have reduced, there are still some Wudang members who are killed by it. The rest of them did not look at their fallen comrades; they did not want to waste the fallen’s sacrifice. Outside the Yu Zhen Palace the Divine Engine Division firearms soldiers are rushing to move in front of the cannons. They are situated at the entrances of Yu Zhen Palace and due to the smoke they fail to notice an opening in the wall created by the cannons fire. Yun Lan appears through that opening stunning the troops. The troops tried to change direction to face him, however as earlier on they were rushing their arrangement are only halfway done, and now they have to change direction thus throwing them into disarray. Yun Lan rushes forward, protecting his face with his metal claw. It is mentioned that his speed has reached a level where even Ye Chen Yuan has to deal with it carefully. He knows that given his personality he isn’t suited to learn Tai Ji. He will have to rely on his sharp reflexes and speed to open another path to reach the peak ,that is the only way to compete with the other Wudang elites. He hopes to one day become a vice-leader who does not know Tai Ji. The soldiers in the front panicky light up the fuse, firing their firearms at him. A part of his left leg gets blown away. A bullet ricochets off his claw and strikes his right forehead, scrapping off a bit of his skin and hair. He kills 2 soldiers before more Wudang members start appearing outside the hole. He knows that he has to attack again to buy more time for the rest. He changes target to the 2nd row of the firearms soldiers. Frantically they fire their firearms. However this time he is more prepared, using ‘Wudang Line Sword’ technique he turns to the left dodging many bullets. But still he got hit; bullets shatter his left arm bone and pierce his left ribs. The soldiers could not see his injury and thinking that he is bulletproof they ran. After killing 3 more people, he stops due to his injury and took a while to stand properly. The soldiers saw this as a weakness and realizes that he is injured.
As the soldiers are closing on him. The other Wudang members arrive to attack the soldiers. After many of their comrade’s death the soldiers ran. Yun Lan struggles to get up, after which he leads the rest deeper into the core of the army camp. During this time, the Divine Engine Division and 5 Barracks Division consisting of thousand troops arrive to deal with the 70+ Wudang soldiers. Yun Lan knows that the deeper they are in the army to cause chaos, the higher the chance it is for the other Wudang members (those still with Lian Zhou) . He is crying knowing that he is leading the 70+ men to death. After killing his 42th enemy he realizes that he is the only Wudang member left standing, the rest are either dead or on the ground. The soldiers start to clear out, leaving the firearm soldiers at a distance away from Yun Lan . They fire their firearms killing Jiang Yun Lan and all the Wudang members with him, Jiao Hong Ye among them . In that instance before his death, he thought of the glorious moment when Ye Chen Yuan led the Bing Ya Division to defeat Qing Cheng sect. Thinking about the moment when Wudang Sect defeated the 1st of the ‘9 Great Sects’, where no one could stop them from creating history. His last thought was “life is good”.
-Yao Hua and Ling Lan managed to find the medicine for Jing Lie. Initially she was reluctant to bring Yao Hua to meet Jing Lie . However she sees her past self in Yao Hua, how she left her country, fighting against her admiration for Jing Lie and her desire for revenge against him, without knowing which feeling will come out stronger and where to find him. She thinks that Yao Hua current situation is similar to hers back then. Just as they were leaving, they sensed someone coming from the forest and is surprised that someone is able to get so close to them so silently.
Shang Cheng Yu appears. Even though he looks like he hasn’t sleept for days, his eyes look sharp. Ling Lan finds his stance and aura similar to Wu Ji Hong (previously WDK) . Yao Hua feels that he is even more dangerous than Wu Ji Hong. Cheng Yu asks if they are Wu Ji Hong’s men here to escort him as he can see from Yao Hua eyes that she has taken the drug before. Yao Hua and Ling Lan can roughly guess that he is the Shang Shi Xiong that Wu Ji Hong always mentioned. Ling Lan puts her hand on her katana handle, but Cheng Yu raises his spear to counter her stance by pointing it at the weakness of her stance and this terrifies her. But Yao Hua is more afraid, she remembers the look of respect and terror on Wu Ji Hong’s face whenever he talks about Shang Shi Xiong. She knows from Ya Ji Hong that after years of imprisonment Cheng Yu’s skills might have dropped. But she doesn’t want to gamble on the “what-if”. That’s when she decided that the both of them cannot defeat Cheng Yu. She lies to him that they are Wu Ji Hong’s men. She then tells Ling Lan to leave this place to escort Wu Ji Hong here, but Ling Lan knows that she meant for her to bring the medicine to Jing Lie. Ling Lan doesn’t like the idea of sacrificing others but she has to get the medicine to Jing Lie. Ling Lan tells Yao Hua that she will find Yao Hua, meaning that one day she will come to rescue Yao Hua . After Ling Lan left, Cheng Yu asks Yao Hua to take off her clothing.
-The cannons fire stop. Scene shifts to where Yao Lian Zhou and 127 other Wudang members are hiding in Yu Zhen Palace’s trench. . Due to the cannons fire, Lian Zhou’s eardrum erupted. The Wudang members then head towards the battlefield.
-There are a couple of soldiers’ POV during the fight. Basically after Fan Zong and the ‘He She’ elites killed the general and with Yun Lan’s gang making things worst, the soldiers are in disarray. Also the soldiers have earlier on been warned to be careful of those wearing black shirt (Bing Ya division).
-Wei Dong Liu is a Bing Ya Division member , a dual sword user. He was there when Wudang defeated Qing Cheng Sect. Wudang members are attacking 5 Barracks Division. Dong Liu managed to create a new move similar to Kong Tong Sect ‘Flying Technique’. In fact during this battle, many Wudang members’ techniques have improved, also they have created many new techniques. However no one knows if they can live to pass the skills on. Beside Dong Liu are other Wudang Members, the most notable one being Chen Dai Xiu. Initially Dong Liu really believes in the ‘Invincible’ thinking of Wudang Sect. But his mentality changed after killing Qing Cheng Sect people. Now he doesn’t really care if Wudang is ‘Invincible’ or not, what excites him the most is killing others to prove how strong he his. The divine engine division troops don’t dare to fire as their own troops are mixed with Wudang members.
-Scene changes to a military officer named Zhang Xiu. He and another military officer are leading their troops to initiate the attack on Wudang members from the east and west. The 2 officers are the few military personnel who take this fight seriously. Unlike many others who are only thinking of improving their rank and position. These 2 have always been researching on how to improve the army. Zhang Xiu remembers from the teachings of his military tactics teacher that having the number advantage doesn’t mean that you will always win. That victory and defeat lies in morale. It is cowardice if 1 person thinks of defeat, but if a million people think of it at the same time then it is something that will happen. An analogy is like when a group of children bullies the group with lesser people, the ones with the majority will feel safe (like what many of the soldiers are feeling) . But when one of the bullies is injured, the others will feel scared, because from the start they never wanted to get injured. Thus when one retreats all will retreat. The 2 officers want to stop this Wudang party from advancing so as to allow the camp perimeter to be re-fortify. However just then, a group of 30 Wudang spear users in semicircle formation arrives before that advancing Wudang party and attack the soldiers. The other officer is killed.
- Li Dong was killed during the barrage on Yu Zhen Palace .That 30 spears users are led by Yang Zhen Ru, formerly of Emei sect. When Wudang is surrounded by the army, Emei Sect announced that it is no longer part of Wudang Sect. Zhen Ru wants to win for Wudang, to prove that the decision he and the others made to leave Wudang was the right decision. Ever since arriving at Wudang Sect 2 years ago his skills has improved tremendously due to Wudang’s training methods. There is a soldier raising his shield in front of him while advancing. If this was the old Zhen Ru he would have tried frantically to find an opening to stab with his spear. But now he sweeps using his spear striking at an angle where the soldier’s resistance and strength is at the weakest, thus destroying the soldiers shoulder joint. Seeing that 60% of his troops are dead, Zhang Xiu and his troops retreat. Zhen Ru then splits the spear formation into 2, as his formation is just paving the way for the 40 Wudang Members behind led by Ye Chen Yuan and Yao Lian Zhou.
-Initially the Divine Engine Division troops did not understand why the 5 barracks Division soldiers were so afraid and were frantically running out of Yu Zhen Palace, hence forcing the general to fire upon their own soldiers and the Wudang members. But now they finally understand. They realize that the number one person to avoid is Yao Lian Zhou. In Lian Zhou’s mind he is thinking about Xi Xiao Yan (F), to kill the soldiers so as to see her again. He looks calm and serene and has no hatred towards the soldiers. It is in this condition that his skills are improving. Ever since the counter attack by Wudang, they have killed around 300 members while suffering 5 casualties. Ye Chen Yuan skills are also improving as he is slowly integrating ‘Male & Female, Dragon &Tiger’ Sword technique into his own Wudang techniques. He thanks He Zi Sheng (Qing Cheng Sect Leader) for ‘giving’ him such a wonderful thing. Chen Yuan is killing a little lesser than Lian Zhou because he is only using 60-70% of his speed and power. He is 46 years old and even at 100 % power the soldiers will still die and cannot see his movements. Hou Ying Zhi is beside Chen Yuan . Suddenly there are soldiers firing firearms at them, hitting 2 Wudang members and 19 soldiers. Then it happened again, hitting 1 Wudang member and 22 soldiers. It is Zhang Xiu who gathered a bunch of Divine Engine Division soldiers to fire at where the Wudang members are. Even though both sides are suffering casualties, Wudang is at a disadvantage. They only have 120 members, unlike the army which have many soldiers. And to exchange 1-2 Wudang members for 10-20+ soldiers is not worth it. And as the number of people on the battlefield reduces, the chances of Wudang members being hit increases.
Zhang Xiu is heart is aching but he feels that this is necessary for them to win; the troops are powerless in close combat, and if their already low morale drops even lower it will be the end of them. Lian Zhou has lost his hearing but manages to deduce the point of origin. He points at the location, since Chen Yuan is nearer he leads the Bing Ya Division to attack. The firearms that Divine Engine Division uses cannot be fully controlled and they must estimate the best timing to fire. They fire their firearms but Chen Yuan suddenly stops his comrades thus dodging most of the bullets. Just as Chen Yuan & co are about to reach Zhang Xiu & Co, there is another group of troops firing from another side. Zhang Xiu is excited because this is something that he has been planning and hoping; that soldiers understand that if they do not fire in this way (where Wudang Sect is among the soldiers) , the whole army will be defeated. Many Wudang members die. Ying Zhi is not thinking about Wudang victory but about surviving. He wants to become a strong person to be swordsman above others, and best of all not to lose to Yan Heng. This thought gives him extra strength. He is thinking about a way to escape even if it means abandoning Wudang. At this moment Lian Zhou leads his men to attack the 2nd group of troops that fired upon Chen Yuan & co. The troops panic and since some of the fuse are lighted, shots are fired everywhere. Chen Yuan kills Zhang Xiu, but as Zhang Xiu is dying he heard cannon fire and is smiling because there is someone with the same thinking as him.
-Currently Chen Quan Li ( the deputy general earlier on who slapped the deputy general who was supposed to be in charge ) is in charge, and like Zhang Xiu he knows that he cannot allow Wudang members to continue like this; Divine Engine Division morale will shatter and will spread to the whole army. He knows that if Wudang Sect gets past here, they will be able to deal with the 2nd line of cannon troops who has lesser close range capabilities. Afraid to fire the powerful main cannons, he decides to let the troops fire a less powerful cannon at where the troops are mixed with Wudang Sect.
Zhen Ru and Chen Dai Xiu dies. Shang Si Lang having lost his sight and hearing attacks a heavily injured Fu Yuan Ba, both dies. Wei Dong Liu thinking has changed; knowing that he cannot win he wants to preserve his life,and perhaps in the future he can enjoy the next battle.
-Ying Zhi picks up a soldier’s helmet and sword and starts to leave the battlefield.
-Chen Yuan lost his left arm.
-Yao Hua is being raped. When she first left Chu Lang Dao Sect, there was a period of time where she survives by seducing men. Back then she learns how to endure by thinking of a man that she likes or hate, she starts thinking of Jing Lie but later it transforms into Xi Xiao Yan(M). She thinks about earlier on when she tells him not to die and that perhaps she should have gone with him.
-Divine Engine division is attacking Chen Yuan. But Xiao Yan(M) arrives to intervene. He regrets the decision to leave Mt Wudang. What pushes him on is his regret and Yao Hua telling him not to die. He continues killing the soldiers.
-At this point in time many Wudang members have died. Lian Zhou is alive and just wishes to find any alive Wudang member. Even though he feels lonely he doesn’t regret his decisions. He thinks back about what Shaolin’s Le Deng said, that Wudang’s path has no way forward, and in the future it might attract a greater calamity. Suddenly Lian Zhou saw Xi Xiao Yan (F). She loves Ying Zhi and came down to find him and to die with him. Lian Zhou looks very happy to see her. She asks him where Ying Zhi is, but even if he cannot hear her he is still happy knowing that she is talking to him. Lian Zhou then gets blown away by the impact of a cannon explosion behind him.
In that instant his brain, organs and his whole body absorbs such a tremendous force. Due to the explosive force his eyes bleed hence disrupting his vision, his nose artery burst surging his throat with blood. Lian Zhou gets fling into the air and onto the ground. Xiao Yan(f) checks his pulse and realizes that he is still alive. She is thinking how to save him. Two soldiers approaches.
-The cannon that sent Lian Zhou flying has shifted out of position. And now the soldiers are trying to get it back into position. Their commander believes that even though most of Wudang members have been killed off, he estimates that 600-1000 soldiers have been killed in the cross fire. Just as they are about to fire, Gui Dan Lei rapidly approaches. The right side of his face is filled with shrapnel shells, he lost 3 fingers in his right hand ,has a huge wound in his stomach and the most serious injury is a piece of a pear that has struck his throat nerve, causing him breathing issues. The soldiers not wanting to fight him in close range light the fuse. While the others flee Dan Lei jumps forward, knocking the cannon causing it to fire at the ground in front killing Dan Lei ,20 + troops and destroying 2 other cannons at the same time. Before he dies he thanks his Wudang peers.
-Back to the scene where Xiao Yan(F) and Lian Zhou are. Ying Zhi arrives disguised as a soldier and proceeds to kill the other 2 soldiers. Xiao Yan(F) is thinking that if she dies now it is alright as she is with Ying Zhi. Ying Zhi is thinking he has one more reason to survive. She asks him if he can save Lian Zhou. He is thinking that if he saves Lian Zhou he can personally learn all of Wudang martial arts. But then again he was the one who stole Lian Zhou’s lover. He says that Lian Zhou may kill him after knowing about this, but she says Lian Zhou won’t. Ying Zhi thinks that after Wudang is destroyed Lian Zhou is sure to want to revive Wudang Sect, and will place his relationship feelings aside and will treasure every alive Wudang member. Thinking about the possibility where Lian Zhou will personally pass him high level martial arts makes his blood boils, he then decides to save Lian Zhou. She does not know what is going through his mind and thinks that he is saving Lian Zhou because of her. He strips Lian Zhou of the white robe , takes Lian Zhou’s sword and carries him. Together the 3 of them proceeds to escape from the battlefield. She is worried about their safety but he assures her as like in the past, he always survives. It is mentioned earlier in the battle that while Wudang Sect has lost many talented people, the Imperial Army also lost talented people like Zhang Xiu .
-The Divine Engine Division firing stopped due to Xiao Yan (M) & Dan Lei’s effort. Xiao Yan(M) kills off the soldiers attack Chen Yuan. Xiao Yan(M) is carrying Chen Yuan as they escape. Chen Yuan tests his right hand, even though it is a little sore every finger is fine. Xiao Yan is tearing, before this he walked past countless Wudang bodies finding only Chen Yuan. He knows that he is now carrying a heavy mission, he now knows how those people whose clan were destroyed by Wudang felt. He will have to walk the same path as Jing Lie but his enemy is someone greater. Now Jing Lie and Ling Lan’s positions in his heart aren’t that big anymore. He thinks about Yao Hua, at the irony that he left searching for a woman( Ling Lan) but now he found another woman. But now he cannot allow any other feelings in him other than rebuilding Wudang and revenge.
-Wu Ji Hong finally meets Shang Cheng Yu. Ji Hong notices how different Cheng Yu looked compared to 7 years; how skinny and pale he is now. He kneels down to give Cheng Yu’s sword back. When Cheng Yu takes it back, he does not look as excited as Ji Hong thought he will be. Ji Hong is shocked to notice Yao Hua around. Cheng Yu declares her as his. Ji Hong then tells Cheng Yu of the news that Wudang Sect will be destroyed and Cheng Yu simply nods his head, his response is similar to earlier on and this surprises Ji Hong. Ji Hong tells Cheng Yu about him joining The Prince of Ning. Cheng Yu congratulates him on doing the right thing. Cheng Yu mentions that Wudang Sect is no longer important in his heart. And indicates that they will whole heartedly help the Prince of Ning to gain the world , and then steal it from him when the day comes. That is when Ji Hong understand why Cheng Yu seems so unemotional when holding his old sword. Cheng Yu reminds Ji Hong that Wudang definition of invincible is too small in scale. Cheng Yu questions Ji Hong whether or not there is a difference if there is a Wudang Sect or not, and tells Ji Hong that true invincibility comes from having the whole world in your hands.
-Scene changes to where Jing Lie and Yan You Fo are. They are on a boat on the way where Jing Lie is to fight Lei Jiu Di. Jing Lie now has a new tattoo of a tiger on his left solar plexus to represent his love to Ling Lan and a new tattoo of a wave on his left calf . Yan You Fo intends to use a black satin strip to wrap around some parts of Jing lie’s body, so as to reduce the impact and pulling on his nerves when he is using strength. Jing Lie gives You Fo permission to dissect his body should he die; You Fo wants to find out what are the condition of his old wounds, so as to improve his medical skills.
Jing Lie has the weapons that he love to use laid out on the boat ;the blade his Shi Su gave him, the short knife, the katana, metal chain with spear head and boat oar. He then place the weapons on him. But Jing Lie doesn’t intend to use all of his weapons, he just doesn’t want Jiu Di to know which weapon he is using. Even if it is such a small advantage he will still use it. After all using his brain to fight has always been his style.
- 2 months ago. Mi Zhong Sect left the city after Lei Jiu Di injured and killed 40+ of his Mi Zhong Sect members. Back then Po Men Liu Jian saved him and nursed him to health. 5 days ago they were notified of the news that the imperial army destroyed Wudang sect. Since the imperial court has been tight lipped about this situation, no one knows much about the situation. Po Men Liu Jian are wondering if Yao Lian Zhou is still alive. They feel as if there is an empty space in their heart. After the battle at Mt Wudang, the troops cannot find the body of Lian Zhou or Chen Yuan hence they are unsure if they are alive or dead. There is an order to capture those related to Wudang Sect. The head of Shi Xing Hao was chopped off to present to the emperor. At night the crazy laughter of a woman can be heard (inferred to be Song Li) .
The emperor kind of regrets the decision to destroy Wudang Sect as he cherishes brave warriors. The reason for all these secrecy is because of the massive losses that the army faced and also because the general in charge was killed in the middle of the battle while in formation; all these tainted the imperial court’s reputation. The dead and the destroyed cannons were quickly buried before the army headed back; all these were done to cover up the truth about the 2000 soldiers’ death. Because of the death of the general in charge, many soldiers have been punished, some were demoted, fined or expelled. Even Cheng Quan Li was made to forfeit his salary. This campaign was never written down in the history books, and history was rewritten to ignore this fight. The emperor orders that Yu Zhen Palace be rebuilt, this task took 3 years to complete.
Yan Heng seems pretty fine about the news , to him even if there is no Wudang Sect it does not mean that he has the qualifications to rebuild Qi Cheng Sect ; he will use his own strength to earn back this right. Jing Lie however is visibly affected. Back then the plan was for all of them to find Ling Lan before deciding what to do.
Suddenly there is out roar; Jiu Di is running around the town. Back then it was Tong Jing suggestion to save Liu Di, she was backed by Yin Ying Feng & Lian Fei Hong. Mi Zong Sect has been heavily affected by this incident. Jiu Di did not train a successor as even Han Shan Hu who is the most capable isn’t the ideal person, thus the title of Mi Zong sect Leader has been empty. The side branches have started to slowly slip away from the main branch, as a result Mi Zong Sect the one with the most members in the Nine Big Sect has since then not been doing well.
Many people chased Jiu Di till he reached a street near the river. Jiu Di says that he will wait here till he fights Jing Lie. Some Xiang Long Dragon Sect member mentions that they were talking outside Jiu Di room earlier about the destruction of Wudang Sect. Yuan Xing mentions that like Jing Lie, Jiu Di wishes to challenge Wudang Sect, but now that there is no Wudang sect all that is left is Jing Lie’s ‘Lang Hu Tie Zhan Lie Shi’ which injured him. At his age if he doesn’t fight he will slip away from the peak of his martial arts skills, thus Jing Lie has become his important opponent.
-A few days later. Tong Jing is practicing her sword skills. Due to the prolonged period of time spent with Jiu Di, she managed to improve her attacking speed and her ability to focus. She remembers Yan Heng telling her that he won’t be surprise if one day she surpasses him. She thinking about how she will be the partner of the future Qing Cheng Sect Leader and that she cannot be lousy. She is now trying out Jie Xiang, previously she got Yan Heng and Fei Hong to teach her the basics, but such skills relies on one self’s discovery. Previously Yan Heng taught her about his ‘Fire Burning Body’ but since she cannot imagine fire, she attempts to imagine something more suitable for her . She focuses her thoughts on the most sensitive part on her back, thus developing a chilliness. Soon it transforms into a needle poking into her back, forcing her body to move forward to avoid the imaginary needle while at the same time performing ‘Star Chasing Moon’ (a Qing Cheng Sect attack). This by so far the fastest strike that she has ever made in her entire life. Fearing that she will soon forget the feeling, she consecutively did it 10 times after which she felt mentally drained. She is grateful for Jiu Di , as without him she wouldn’t have improved at such a speed. She thinks about how Jiu Di has been sitting at the riverside for 5 days and decides to bring food for him. Turns out Xiang Long Sect disciples have been putting food and water nearby for him.
Just then Jing Lie arrives with the others. Jiu Di intends to fight but Jing Lie thanks Jiu Di for appearing in front of him at his lowest point, he intends to fight with Jiu Di but not today. He wants to fight Jiu Di only after both of their injuries have recovered, when both of them at their peak as he wants to fight the strongest Jiu Di and in front of even more people. He will get people to forge new dual blades for Jiu Di. He tells Dai Kui that this trouble is something that Po Men Liu Jian brought with them hence they cannot just leave. They do not know where Ling Lan has gone, but if she hears of this upcoming duel she will definitely come. However these are not the main reasons, as of now Wudang experts like Yao Lian Zhou , Ye Chen Yuan , Xi Xiao Yan(M) and Jiang Yun Lan are not confirmed to be alive or dead. Without them his journey has become meaningless. Even though he hates Wudang for destroying his sect, Wudang did defeat Nan Hai Hu Zhun Sect in a proper fight. Therefore he wants to defeat Wudang in a proper fight but now he can’t do that. He now has the chance to fight Jiu Di, similarly Jiu Di has the desire to fight him, not to mention there are few fighters in this world like Jiu Di. It is true that in 2 or 3 years he may have a higher chance of defeating Jiu Di but by then Jiu Di might have slipped off the peak of his martial arts skills. As a result he feels fortunate to meet Jiu Di during this period of time. Jing Lie believes that this is his way of living, if he dies like this it’s alright.
In December, to the scene where Yan Heng and Tong Jing are. Yan Heng carves out a wooden doll replica of Tong Jing and gives it to her. Tong Jing kids with Yan Heng that if in the future he doesn’t practice sword , he can still sell wooden carvings for a living. Yan Heng mentions that it is because of her that he is who he is today.
For these past 2 months, Jing Lie and Jiu Di have recuperated. Even though Jing Lie’s knee and shoulders are unable to fully recover (it will still hurt if he overexert) it has recovered to a stage whereby he can use his full force to attack. Yuan Xing have taught Jing Lie ‘Yi Jin Jing’ to help speed up his recovery, Fei Hong has told Jing Lie everything about Jiu Di about all his martial arts, habits and possible tactics. Fei Hong and Yan Heng who are more familiar with dual swords take turns to imitate Jiu Di and be Jing Lie sparring partner. Tong Jing has told Jing Lie everything that she observed about Jiu Di, especially the part where using ‘God Descent’ will expand a huge part of his strength.
Tong Jing will not stop Yan Heng if the person to battle Jiu Di is Yan Heng. She knows that this is his life and if he gave up something so important to him because of her, then the Yan Heng that she loves doesn’t exists. Yan Heng is touched after hearing this and hugs Tong Jing, he remembers the time in the past whereby he hugs Song Li. But this time he will not let go of Tong Jing. As Jing Lie is still a fugitive, the battle is announced as ‘Nan Hai Fighter duels Mi Zong Sect Leader’. Yan Heng knows that Jing Lie will not fight Jiu Di without any confidence. Fei Hong then arrives saying that Jing Lie wants to seriously train with every single one of Po Men Liu Jian(minus Ling Lan), he assures them that they do not want to miss such a Jing Lie.
-Back to present where Jing Lie is on the boat to fight Jiu Di. There are thousands of people on the street waiting for the battle to start. Jiu Di and Jing Lie will fight in an arena surrounded by bamboos. For the past 2 months Dai Kui has taught Jing Lie Xin Yi Sect’s technique on utilizing the full body strength to attack the enemy. In turn Jing Lie has already taught the important aspect of his ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ to Dai Kui, it’s just that Dai Kui doesn’t know it yet. In the future when Dai Kui continues training he will then slowly understand this gift from Jing Lie. Xing Ying (Fei Hong’s Kong Tong Sect Disciple) and Pang Tian Shun(from Xiang Dragon Sect) are betrothed to each other. The rest of the usual people are also there. Yin Ying Feng and 3 of his disciples are also among the spectators. 10 + days ago when Yin Ying Feng returned, he taught Jing Lie a few pointers on his ‘Dong Chu Long Sword’ technique and 8 Trigram Sect footwork, though he have no idea how much it would help Jing Lie. Initially he was surprised as to why he would so easily passed on his 8 Trigram techniques to Jing Lie. But Jing Lie do have such charisma. Jing Lie then arrives. A few days ago Jing Lie told the rest that should he die today, they must not gang on Jiu Di for revenge. Jiu Di is sitting on the center of the arena.
-Jing Lie can tell that Jiu Di is anxious. He is observing Jiu Di’s expression trying to figure out Jiu Di’s thoughts. To him the real battle started the moment they met. Jing Lie offloads his oar, katana, spear-headed chain and his short knife. Holding the blade that his Shi Su gave him he started smiling , thinking about how his Shi Su would have thought at the idea that he will be using the same sword given to him to attack Mi Zong Sect leader. Jiu Di looks at the smile and remembers the day where Jing Lie is still smiling even though he puts his blade on Jing Lie’s neck . Such memories fuels his hatred such that he wants to tear down Jing Lie’s smile. Jing Lie draws his remaining weapon- the blade, before attempting to go up the arena. The others feel weird that he is taking out his weapon before going up. However at this moment he heard sounds of horse hooves. Ling Lan then appears. She embraces Jing Lie, he tells her not to leave him in the future as he needs her. Ling Lan tells him to win, this rejuvenates Jing Lie. She then collapses. Yan You Fo mentions that she has been sick for many days but still persists on travelling, however the doctor assures the rest she is fine. As Jing Lie is heading back towards the arena, Jiu Di who is annoyed tells him that he will lose as he hugged a woman before battle, that he is thinking about the woman before battle. However Jing Lie once again annoys Jiu Di with his smile saying that Jiu Di has never fought for love and will never understand such power.
Jing Lie transfers the blade to his right hand, places his left hand on the arena to support himself and then jumps on the arena. The moment Jing Lie feet touches the surface, Jiu Di rushes forward using his Mi Zong Sect ‘Yan Qing Crazy Steps’ (231) which specializes in making the smallest movement when moving. Originally Jiu Di is at the center of the arena, with such a moment he is now about 10 feet away from Jing Lie. He then throws his 3 point swallow tail dart at Jing Lie. Previously he found this dart of his when he went back searching for it for about 2 hours (at the place where he killed his Mi Zong Sect members in the last volume). He could have asked for it to be forged, but he didn’t want Jing Lie to know that he has such a weapon. After throwing the dart, his left hand then quickly reaches for his blade, drawing it to attack Jing Lie’s chest. Using a throwing weapon to pave the way while closing in with a sneak attack is the same strategy that he used on Fei Hong (during the battle in the forest volumes ago) . From the start Jiu Di has already planned to attack Jing Lie when he lands on the arena. Jiu Di has seen ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ before and knows that the weakness is that it requires time to prepare, also it has to be used at a certain distance, thus the best way to counter this is to not give Jing Lie time and space. Even though there will be people saying that such is a sneak attack but Jiu DI thinks otherwise, in his eyes, a martial artist has to be ready for battle the moment his legs touches the arena.
Jiu Di uses ‘Jie Xiang’ to imagine a demon god thus entering ‘God Descend’ with Jiu Di gambling everything in this attack. Jiu Di aims his dart at Jing Lie’s chest because that is the center of the human body and Jing Lie will have to use the biggest movement to dodge, spending lots of time hence having lesser time to adapt to the blade strike. It is mentioned there are probably less than 5 people in Wulin who can match the speed of Jiu Di’s 3 consecutive movements of throwing his dart, pulling out his blade and attacking with it. However even the fastest movement has a weakness; that is if you already know it is going to happen. Actually when Jing Lie was halfway in the air before landing, he was already preparing. The moment the ball of his feet touches the arena, he uses the momentum of his landing to step diagonally to his right, turning his upper body to his left while using the smallest movement to dodge the incoming dart. The reason he is able to dodge is because he predicted that Jiu Di will attack him the instant he is on the arena thus he has already came up with the necessary preparations, just that he didn’t want Jiu Di to figure out. He figured out Jiu Di’s plan based on Jiu Du’s actions, how he occupied the center of the arena, his impatient look, him intentionally hanging his hands down looking relaxed. Also Jing Lie knows about the weakness of his ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’. Based on all these he figured out Jiu Di’s plan. In such a high level battle to have a rough idea of the first strike can become a powerful weapon to subdue the enemy; to change the enemy’s sudden attack to his advantage.
Jing Lie then steps forward towards Jiu Di. Jing Lie’s dodging technique of using the smallest angle to continue forward is similar to Jiu Di’s ‘Yun Yin Shen Xing’, basically he imitated it based on the last time he saw Jiu Di’s battle in the forest. Jiu Di’s blade has just unsheathed when Jing Lie rushes towards him hence greatly reducing the distance between them. Jiu Di has no room to ‘take’ back his attack hence he continues his upward slash. Jing Lie then uses his left forearm to stack behind the back of his blade and throws his whole body forward. Jing Lie’s attack of locking both of his arm and using his whole body strength to attack is based on Dai Kui’s Xin Yi Sect’s technique. Even though Jiu Di’s ‘God Descend’ attack is fast he could not have guess that Jing Lie will rush forward. As the distance and placing have changed, Jiu Di’s attack has only slashed halfway when it clashes with Jing Lie’s blade. During the clash, Jiu Di noticed something shiny in Jing Lie’s left hand. Jing Lie’s blade being the tougher one bites into Jiu Di blade by 6.4mm (2分 =6.4mm.). Jing Lie abandons his blade hence surprising Jiu Di once again. But Yan Heng who is watching is not surprised; Jing Lie did the same thing against Xi Xiao Yan(M)’s brother in Mt Qing Cheng. Knowing that there will be another attack , Jiu Di using his ‘God Descend’ astonishing speed to backhandedly draw his other blade and holding all 3 blades to protect his front. Jiu Di believes that he will win if he defend against this attack, but Jing Lie is no longer at that position. Based on his many years of experience, Jiu Di knows that Jing Lie is below, thus he jumps backwards to the left to evade. After ditching his blade, Jing Lie is nearly lying on the floor while throwing himself forward, aiming for Jiu Di’s foot using body-propelling technique similar to ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’.
Jing Lie right knee hurts . Ever since he landed he has jumped 3 times, exerting pressure on his right knee. But he endures the pain knowing that he has to endure it one more time for victory. Both of them are fast, but Jing Lie already has prepared for the change. And because of such a thought Jiu Di’s jump is slower by that little bit. Jiu Di too knows about this and is determined not to get caught by Jing Lie. While in midair, he kicks out ‘Cun Ding Kick’ (Inch Nail Kick) towards Jing Lie incoming left hand strike. Jing Lie’s left hand loses the kick and brushes past Jiu Di’s ankle. Jing Lie ends up behind Jiu Di, kneeling at the center of the arena. Along with Jing Lie is blood. Jiu Di lands on the floor and collapses while kneeling heavily on his left knee. The blades on his right hand flew out. He uses the blade on his left hand to recover himself and to kneel down properly . All these movements from the start are completed in 2 breaths time. Blood starts to flow from Jiu Di’s left foot. After some time Jing Lie gets up and reveals that in his left palm is the short blade that he has gotten from Mei Xin Shu (the Wudang member who uses chains, part of Ya Ji Hong gang).
Jing Lie planned this from the start; he hid this weapon in his belt, and only took it out when his was jumping up to the arena. From the start in front of everyone else he gave all his other weapons to his comrades and moved his blade (the one his shi su gave him) on his right hand. He even puts his left palm on the arena floor to support him before jumping in. This is to convince Jiu Di hat he has no other weapon on him. With everyone believing that his weapon is on his right hand, no one focused on his left hand. Jiu Di tries to stand but to no avail; his left calf’s tendon has been sliced.
Note: The author is actually being very deceptive with the weapons that Jing Lie has on him. I re-read through the earlier few pages and there was no mention of his small blade when Jing Lie was on the boat putting on the ‘weapons that he love’. And in the part after Jing Lie passes the rest of his weapons to his comrades, the author specifically wrote that all that is remaining on Jing Lie is his blade on his waist.
Jing Lie claims that it is all over, but Jiu Di manages to get up and supports himself using one leg and denies it. Jiu Di wants to take on Jing Lie’s ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ . Mi Zong Sect’s martial arts’ most important aspect is in its speed, with only 1 leg Jiu Di cannot fully utilize it. At this stage Jing Lie doesn’t even need to use it to win. Jing Lie knows that Jiu Di’s martial arts journey has come to an end; at such age it is impossible to recover fully. But Jing Lie respects Jiu Di and asks for his katana from Yuan Xing. Fei Hong is full of admiration for Jiu Di. While Yan Heng sees his master in Jiu Di. Tong Jing knows that she will never forget Jiu Di. Because of his desire to win Jiu Di gave up taking ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ head on , and instead he decides to use such tactics . This is something that he regrets. He is thinking that if from the start he took ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ head on he may win and will have no regrets, but now he has no more chances. He is grateful that Jing Lie is showing him this attack. For the last time Jiu Di uses ‘God Descend’. The pain in his left foot disappears and his hand is no longer shaking. He jumps forward using 1 leg, while Jing Lie launches “Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi” . While jumping forward, Jie Xing uses ‘Jie Xiang’ of waves, using the force to spin his body. But this time it is different from the past. In the past he can only use left-right , up-down these 2 kinds of turning. But now with 2 legs he doesn’t need to worry about balance issues and can control it to create more delicate spinning angles . He rotates in a slanting direction, combining left-right-up-down movements. The blade strike is mentioned to reach the level of ‘Yao Xuan’ level. The strike slashes Jiu Di’s chest. After the strike, Jiu Di collapses while Jing Lie has to run a few steps to dissipate the force. Jing Lie hugs Jiu Di and tells him to go first, that one day they will fight on the other side. And during that time Jiu Di has to truefully take on Jing Lie’s blades. Jiu Di then dies. Jing Lie stands while everyone else looks at him silently. In such silence, Jing Lie can hear the waves and in his heart is a sense of loneliness.
In this year, Wudang Sect disappears from the world. Jing Lie transcend into a peerless martial artist. But the journey of blood and steel, love and battles have yet to end.
Note:
-While I mention the 3 point swallow tail dart as a dart, the Chinese character can mean a dart or a shuriken (albeit rare).
-Yao Xuan is a word I have not seen in a long while. I can’t find the exact explanation as I cannot remember when it first appeared. If I remember correctly it is a term that defines the highest level of speed of an attack. However my past notes do mention that EGscans translates Yao Xuan Zhi Jian as Shining Sword. It appears once in the manhua volume 6 chapter 26, and another time when Jing Lie first used ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ against Mei Xin Shu.
THE END
Afterword:
Every volume has a afterword, its just that usually I put the more important stuff at the end without a dedicated afterword section. This time round I decided to have an afterword section to summarize the more important stuff in it.
The author has never planned on how many arcs the whole story will have. From the beginning he never planned everything in such detail. It is just that as he slowly writes that everything just fit in. The whole story will have 4 arcs:
Wudang Arc : Vol1 – 5
Po Men Liu Jian Arc: Vol6-9
Love and Battle Arc: Vol 10-14
???? Arc : The final arc. The author hasn’t thought of the name yet.
Even the author himself doesn’t know what will happen in the future.
Volume 15 preview:
Who can brush aside humiliation with just a smile
Breaks sword and throws it on the road side (or it could mean throws broken sword on the road side. These 2 sentences are written like poem verses so they could mean either way)
The ambitious Shang Cheng Yu joins the Prince of Ning. This increases the power of the Prince’s forces, however it also creates a internal power struggle. With the wolf and tiger together in one place, how will they coexists?
Yao Lian Zhou survives but his life gets a life shaking change. And his relationship with Hou Ying Zhi and Xi Xiao Yan(F) gets more tricky.
Where will the survivors of Wudang and Po Men Liu Jian go ?
Comments:
It’s pretty shocking to see such heavy casualties from Wudang Sect. I guess this does align to Shang Cheng Yu’s thinking of Wudang Sect’s definition of “Invincible” being too narrow minded. It is also surprisingly to see a new Wudang Sect character (Wei Dong Liu) survive. By not using an old character I feel that he is throwing all that development away which is kind of wasted. After reading the previous volume I guessed that Lian Zhou will be handicapped but this is just wayyy too much. He definitely lost his hearing and I am not sure if he lost his sight , going by the preview for vol 15 I guess maybe his days as a fighter are long gone. It sucks but oh well.
The final battle between Jing Lie and Lei Jiu Di was pretty short but I guess it is fitting considering it does focus a lot on Jing Lie's battle style of using his brain to fight. I am hoping that in the future Jing Lie will face an opponent that has a similar battle style (Shang Cheng Yu?) and meet his match. In fact I won't mind if Jing Lie loses in a real battle when facing with such a foe.
If you did google Prince of Ning and Wang Shou Ren when they appeared, you will have a rough idea where the series is heading. Someone on Facebook asks if the final battle will be the one between Wang Shou Ren and Prince of Ning. The author mentioned that indeed the final arc will closely follow the real history.
I guess its pretty much a given that Xi Xiao Yan(M) will somehow team up with Po Men Liu Jian to rescue Huo Yao Hua. Its just really interesting to see what the author do with Hou Ying Zhi next. I suppose the handicap given to Ye Chen Yuan will probably means that Yan Heng will kill Chen Yuan in a fight but with Yan Heng feeling that he did not defeat Chen Yuan. Just like how Chen Yuan thought that even though he killed He Zi Sheng he did not defeat Zi Sheng.
With this novel taking nearly a year to be release I suppose the next volume will take even longer. I guess y’all can check back in about 9-10 months (?) time.
It turns out volume 15 was released 2 weeks ago. I should be getting it later. However as I am currently very busy, I will not able to do translations anytime soon.
In the Wulin emerges a mysterious killer called “Yao Feng” (which can be translated into something like Demon Edge) who uses Wudang Sword Techniques!
Shang Cheng Yu joins The Prince of Ning and displays his tremendous ambition, together they are locked in a constant struggle of power .
Yan Heng undergoes Qing Cheng Sect’s traditional “Shan Luo”(which can be translated into Mountain snail/screw. But basically I suppose it means Yan Heng isolating himself to train in the mountains) training in order to pursue the secrets of ‘Male & Female, Dragon &Tiger’ Sword Technique as well as to figure out the secret behind his master’s ‘jie xiang’.
EDIT: I'm very busy during this period of time. I will start translating once I have free time ,which is around late april and will get it done before May.
In all my previous translations I tried to break down the wall of text by adding in more paragraphs. But still the wall of text can be quite huge so this time round I put in even more paragraphs. Hope it will ease the reading process.
Volume 16 : Sheep and Tiger
Po Men Liu Jian:
• Yan Heng: From Qing Cheng Sect
• Jing Lie : From Nan Hai Hu Zhun Sect
• Hu Ling Lan : From Japan
• Tong Jing: Daughter of the Head of Ming Jiang Gang
• Lian Fei Hong : ex-leader of Kong Tong Sect.
• Yuan Xing: Shaolin Monk
Wudang Sect :
• Yao Lian Zhou: Leader
• Ye Chen Yuan: Vice leader, head of Bing Ya Division
• Xi Xiao Yan (M): Guy with the long arm from Bing Ya div.
• Hou Ying Zhi: Yan Heng’s friend. Originally from Qing Cheng Sect but joined Wudang Sect after Qing Cheng Sect’s destruction.
• Wei Dong Liu: New character that was introduced last volume. From Bing Ya Division. Was there when Wudang Sect challenged Qing Cheng Sect
• Xi Xiao Yan (F): Not to be confused with the Xi Xiao Yan above. Maid from the brothel that Lian Zhou brought back with him from Xi An.
Prince of Ning’s gang:
• Prince of Ning: Part of the Imperial Royal Family. Trying to usurp the throne.
• Shang Cheng Yu: Previously known as Shang Shi Xiong. The 3rd Vice Leader of Wudang. Also known as the Traitor of Wudang. 1st member of the ‘He She’ elites of Shou She Division.
• Wu Ji Hong : Previously known as WDK (Wave Dragon Technique King).
• Li Jun Yuan: Trusted aide of the Prince of Ning. The person who tried to recruit Jing Lie & co after the battle in Xi An.
Imperial Court:
• Emperor
• Song Li : Originally from Qing Cheng Sect. Now a concubine of the Emperor.
• Jiang Bin: Bigshot in the Imperial Court who appeared in Novel 4. He was previously Official-in-charge of the Jin Yi Wei.
Kong Tong Sect:
• Xing Ying : Lian Fei Hong’s disciple.
Xiang Dragon Sect:
• Pang Tian Shun: Fought Yan Heng in volume 10. In the volume 12, together with Dai Kui and Xing Ying they attempt to find Po Men Liu Jian.
Others:
• Huo Yao Hua: Ex bandit. Was once part of WDK’s group before deciding to leave him. In the previous volume she was captured by Shang Cheng Yu
• Jie Xiang: A technique whereby the user uses the power of imagination to increase the user’s capabilities.
• Shou She Division: 1 of Wudang Sect’s 3 divisions. They are the scouts, responsible for gaining information. Can be translated into Head Snake.
• Wulin: Martial arts community
• ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’: Jing Lie’s ultimate attack. The one where he stands on 1 leg to propel himself forward to spin his whole body to attack with his blade. It can be translated into Waves Steel Slashing Force.
• Ting Jing: Also known as Listening Power. A Tai Ji essential technique of feeling the direction and the flow of movement and strength of someone.
• Zhui Xing Jie Mai: Advanced “Wudang Form Sword” technique by pointing your sword at your enemy’s vital points before your enemy can successfully deliver his/her attack.
Jing Lie, Hu Ling Lan , Yan Heng , Tong Jing , Dai Kui and Lian Fei Hong left Xi An together. They spent the time together by training with each other. After some time Dai Kui decided to leave to report back to his master. Since Jing Lie wanted to find a smith to sharpen their weapons, Dai Kui suggested that they go to find a famous smith named Han Shi Zi in Lu Ling.
On their way to Lu Ling , Jing Lie & co met Yuan Xing. Yuan Xing decided to stay behind to help the villagers out while the others head towards Lu Ling. Upon reaching Lu Ling, they discovered a big baddie named WDK. Also they got to know Lu Ling’s ex magistrate Wang Shou Ren who just arrived. Jing Lie and a villager decided to go recce on the enemy’s hideout. In the process the villager died and Jing Lie was severely injured but still Jing Lie managed to kill WDK’s most trusted ally; his Shi Di Mei Xin Shu. Yuan Xing then joined the rest in Lu Ling. Tong Jing named their group of 6 Po Men Liu Jian. Wang Shou Ren launched an assault comprising of Po Men Liu Jian, bandits and a group of Lu Ling’s citizens. Even though they destroyed WDK’s hideout, WDK and his lackeys escaped due to a hostage situation. Han Shi Zi is found to be alive and helped Po Men Liu Jian sharpened their weapons.
Po Men Liu Jian left Lu Ling to pay the corrupted officials who are linked to WDK’s drug business a visit. After some time, they tracked down Qian Qing, god son of Qian Ning ( Head of the Royal Guards). Fei Hong killed Qian Qing. Ling Lan left the group to find a cure for Jing Lie . 3 days later Qian Ning is notified about the death of Qian Qing and is very angry about it, he managed to convince the Emperor to issue an Imperial Decree to all major sects ordering them kill Po Men Liu Jian.
Wudang Sect refused the Imperial Decree and is the only sect to do so. Meanwhile Ling Lan encountered Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan (The male one, not the female. Previously he left Wudang Sect to find Jing Lie). They then decided to head to Wudang Sect to get the cure for Jing Lie. Qian Ning decided to help the Prince of Ning after being notified of his plans where Qian Ning is to convince the Emperor to launch an assault on Wudang Sect, so that the Prince of Ning can steal some gunpowder and cannons among other things. Qian Ning managed to convince the Emperor of launching an assault on Wudang Sect. Meanwhile Mi Zong Sect launched an attack on Po Men Liu Jian (minus Ling Lan). Po Men Liu Jian managed to escape and left the area by getting help from 8 Trigrams Sect.
The Imperial Army that was sent after Wudang was situated at the foot of Mt Wudang when the 6 ‘He She’ members infiltrate the Army Camp to list down the locations of the gunpowder. The plan was for them to ignite all the gunpowder spots when they assault the Army camp the next day. But halfway through there was an explosion and the army realized about the infiltration. Thus the ‘He She’ members have no choice but to escape. Along the way some members of ‘Bing Ya’ Division arrived to help fend off the Imperial Army while some of ‘He She’ managed to successfully escape.
The 8 Trigrams Sect and Po Men Liu Jian (minus Ling Lan) are hiding in Xiang Tan. Jing Lie is currently being treated by Yan You Fo. Lei Jiu Di together with his disciple came up a plan to discover their hiding location, which succeeded. 8 Trigrams Sect was lured out to deal with Han Shan Hu and Mi Zong Sect while Lei Jiu Di and a few of his disciples attack Po Men Liu Jian’s hiding location. Lei Jiu Di forced Jing Lie to a duel which will take place 15 days later (Jing Lie needs 15 days to recover). Lei Jiu Di needed a guarantee that Jing Lie will uphold his promise and took Tong Jing as a hostage.
Hu Ling Lan, Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan met WDK on their way up to Mt Wudang. That is when they realized Wudang Sect’s predicament. WDK is on his way to collect the gunpowder and weapons left behind by the Imperial Army, and to deliver it to the Prince of Ning once he is done. He is also on his way to rescue Shang Shi Xiong. Xi Xiao Yan and WDK clashed but WDK retreated in the end. Hu Ling Lan, Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan continued heading towards Mt Wudang.
Even though Tong Jing is kept as a hostage she is treated decently. She spent her time observing Jiu Di practicing martial arts. Every time he enters “God’s Descent’ he feels like he is entering a black abyss and it gets harder to get out every single time. But with Tong Jing around she is like the light that shines in the darkness, guiding him back out of “God’s Descent” properly. Once she tried to persuade Jiu Di to not fight Jing Lie, but Jiu Di will only agree if she becomes his disciple. Jiu Di is worried about not having a successor as not even Han Shan Hu is guaranteed to fully master “God’s Descent”. Han Shan Hu overheard Jiu Di saying this and is determined to destroy her.
It turns out Jiang Ni Er , the cripple in Wudang Sect is the spy for the Imperial Court. He sent a pigeon carrier to the Imperial Army that Wudang Sect is retreating up the mountains. This was discovered by Fan Zong and another ‘He She’ member. But before Ni Er could do anything more he committed suicide. However only the non-combatants of Wudang Sect retreated up the mountains while the rest lie in wait for the Imperial Army.
One night before the duel between Jing Lie and Jiu Di, Han Shan Hu intended to violate and kill Tong Jing. But she noticed his arrival and a fight broke out. However Jiu Di soon arrived to interfere hence stopping the fight. Shan Hu tried to lie his way out however Tong Jing mentioned that if Jiu Di kills Shan Hu she will be his disciple. Jiu Di then attacks Shan Hu , however soon more Mi Zong Sect members arrive. Shan Hu lies to the others saying that it was Jiu Di who was violating Tong Jing and in the past Jiu Di captured girls to learn unorthodox martial arts. The mass then attacked Jiu Di and Tong Jing which ended with Shan Hu escaping and many Mi Zong Sect members dead. Yan Heng , Yuan Xing and others soon arrive. Jiu Di collapses after the fight is over. Tong Jing had Yan Heng carries Jiu Di and together they return to where the others are.
While Wudang is waiting for the attack by the Imperial Army, Shi Xing Hao heads to the dungeon where Shang Cheng Yu is imprisoned. Xing Hao wants to kill Cheng Yu and revealed that 7 years ago he was the one who poisoned Cheng Yu before Cheng Yu’s duel with Lian Zhou for the position of Wudang Sect Leader, resulting in Cheng Yu being unconscious in the middle of the duel. The reason Xing Hao did this was because Cheng Yu has been drifting away from the Wudang Sect that Gong Sun Qing envisioned, Xing Hao knows that Cheng Yu is not seeking the peak of martial arts but rather power. Xing Hao fabricated documents that Cheng Yu was already a general in the Imperial Army and would have Wudang Sect train the soldiers should Cheng Yu become Wudang Sect Leader(Lian Zhou doesn’t know the truth behind all of these). Despite all these Lian Zhou refused to kill Cheng Yu, instead imprisoning him.
The fight between Cheng Yu and Xing Hao resulted in Xing Hao’s death. Before the fight Cheng Yu already had the chains that bound him removed (because of a erosive liquid that Ning Er gave him). Cheng Yu then proceeds to escape from the prison.
Wudang Sect then clashed with the Imperial Army. Hou Ying Zhi is in the Bing Ya Division. Xi Xiao Yan (F) is looking at the battle from the mountains above and starts running down towards the battlefield.
The general in charge sees how fearsome Wudang Sect is in close combat and despite having his forces mixed together with Wudang Sect he orders for the cannons strike. Wudang Sect suffers casualties however Lian Zhou and many others retreat to Yu Zhen Palace where they hide in trenches that they have dug. The whole ‘He She’ elites of the Shou She Division attack the army, with Fan Zong killing the General in charge. But this resulted in the death of all 7 ‘He She’ members.
Xi Xiao Yan(M), Hu Ling Lan and Huo Yao Hua reaches Mt Wudang and splits into 2 groups. Xiao Yan(M) tells Hu Ling Lan where to get the medicine for Jing Lie and tells her to bring Yao Hua to Jing Lie. After getting hold of the medicine they met Shang Cheng Yu who mistook the 2 ladies as Wu Ji Hong’s lackeys. Yao Hua after sensing that the both of them cannot take him on, she manages to trick Cheng Yu into allowing Ling Lan to leave. After which Cheng Yu violates her.
After the death of the General in charge, the army faces a temporal lack of leadership which caused disarray in the troops. Wudang Sect then launches its counter attack after the cannons strike died down. The Imperial Army started taking heavy casualties, but then a few military soldiers decide to take lead to fire at Wudang Sect members even though there are many friendlies among them. This ultimately tips the battle in the Imperial Army’s favor. Even though the army took heavy damage, Wudang Sect was ultimately wiped out with only a few survivors. Wei Dong Liu a new character that was introduced manages to escape. Xi Xiao Yan(F) came down to the battlefield to look for Hou Ying Zhi and in the process Yao Lian Zhou was seriously injured due to a cannon explosion nearby. Hou Ying Zhi arrives in time to save the both of them and escape from Mt Wudang. Ye Chen Yuan loses his left hand and Xi Xiao Yan(M) arrives in time to save him and together they escape from Mt Wudang. Xi Xiao Yan (M) is feeling guilty for not standing together with his comrades in battle. And after having walked past countless of his comrades’ dead bodies, he now knows that he is carrying a heavy responsibility on his shoulder.
Wu Ji Hong arrives at Mt Wudang to meet Shang Cheng Yu. He explains that he has joined the Prince of Ning and the rationale behind it and prepares to escort Shang Cheng Yu to join the Prince of Ning. Shang Cheng Yu praises Wu Ji Hong for doing the right thing, and will help the Prince of Ning usurp the throne and to one day steal it from him. Shang Cheng Yu brings along Huo Yao Hua with him.
After the night where Lei Jiu Di killed 40+ of his Mi Zong Sect members he was rescued by Yan Heng and nursed to full health. Lei Jiu Di and Jing Lie then agree to have a duel 2 months later. During this two months Tong Jing developed her first Jie Xiang. Also news of the Imperial Army’s victory at the Battle on Mt Wudang spread. Jing Lie is visibly affected and Po Men Liu Jian(minus Hu Ling Lan) has no idea if the Wudang Sect experts survive or not. It is revealed that details of the battle are shrouded in secrecy as it is a humiliation to the Imperial Court for having the General in charge killed in the middle of the battle, and also because of the massive losses that the army faced. Also this battle was never written down in the history books. Xing Ying and Pang Tian Shun are betrothed to each other.
And after 2 months the duel happened but not before Hu Ling Lan arrives and now Po Men Liu Jian is whole. Jing Lie has recovered substantially and manages to kill Lei Jiu Di after managing to predict his mentality.
Story
Song Li is having a dream where Yan Heng and Hou Ying Zhi are preparing porridge for her. Suddenly the whole place is shaking, she doesn’t want to leave the dream but she wakes up. She is in a carriage with another concubine who is pregnant. This concubine isn’t pregnant with the Emperor’s child; her brother is a corrupt official who was supposed to be demoted, but he presented to the Emperor her sister. The Emperor who was mesmerized by her made her a concubine and he doesn’t mind that at that point in time she was already 2 months pregnant. As a result the brother was spared and was even promoted. By now Song Li knows that Yan Heng is 1 of Po Men Liu Jian. When she first found out she fainted. She felt guilty for the whole situation and when she later found out that he is still alive it made her felt better. She regretted scolding Yan Heng and back then had she followed Yan Heng, perhaps she would be with him right now. She noticed that there are 2 more female members in Po Men Liu Jian and wonders if anyone of them belongs to Yan Heng. The pleasure of the successful revenge isn’t as intense as she thought it would be. Back then only Shi Xing Hao’s (Wudang Sect Vice Leader) head was brought back. And she may not even know if Ye Chen Yuan and Yao Lian Zhou is dead or alive, hence there is an emptiness in her heart. She contemplated suicide but in the end she did not as she missed Yan Heng and till date is still trying to convince the Emperor to get rid of their search warrant.
Jiang Bin is now the Emperor’s number 1 person and has replaced Qian Ning (the eunuch who appeared early in the volumes) as the one in charge of the Jin Yi Wei (the Imperial Military police). Basically Song Li is with hundreds of soldiers commanded by Jiang Bin and the Emperor. They are away from the capital. Initially the Emperor under Jiang Bin’s influence decided to get out of the capital, however 3 years ago he failed; years ago Yin Zong Emperor (legit person) left the capital and was captured and held prisoner by the mongols and thus now the officials are nervous. Finally the Emperor and Jiang Bin planned and was finally able to leave the capital. Jiang Bin is happy because now the Emperor is his and his alone without anyone else’s influence. When they first left the capital, there is news that “The little prince” of the TarTars (ethic group in central asia) is going to invade Da Tong. From young the Emperor has heard of the heroic stories of his ancestors. Thus he feels like defeating his own enemies. The Emperor has deeply regretted the decision to destroy Wudang Sect. He has heard from his soldiers how powerful Wudang is, and even though he regretted the decision he also felt that he had established the legend of Wudang by bestowing such a glorious battle to them. 13 days later the emperor gathered reinforcements from the capital and leading an Imperial Army of 60,000 they attacked the Tartar’s of 50,000, with the tartars retreating after the battle. In battle The Emperor even managed to use Wudang Line Sword Technique once to kill an enemy, it is revealed that Shi Xing Hao once gave the Emperor some pointers.
Yan Heng has been in the forest for 47 days. Initially he came here hoping to meet a tiger. He first saw the tiger on his 6th day here, back then he was taken aback when he first saw the tiger, but it left soon after. And now he is thinking about the tiger, knowing that it is somewhere out there he unintentionally releases his battle aura scaring away the birds. He realized his mistake too late as he regains control, he knows that the only way to meet the tiger is to be one with the forest. Yan Heng then returns back to his cave. He remembers the last time he spoke to someone was Tong Jing; when he told her that he will be back soon.
Two years ago after Jing Lie killed Lei Jiu Di, he became famous throughout Wulin. Even though the destruction of Wudang Sect spared many Sects from being destroyed by Wudang, they are still frightened that the Imperial Court would actually use such methods to destroy a martial arts sect. Even though the people in Wulin no longer chase after Po Men Liu Jian, they still have to evade the Imperial Court. After the the destruction of Wudang, the Imperial Court has been trying their best to capture the remnants of Wudang Sect. Even those Jiang Hu people who are unrelated have been captured and hundreds of innocent people have died under torture, and with this many people don’t dare to travel far away from their ‘base’. Po Men Liu Jian is afraid to implicate those who once gave them hospitality and thus decided to leave, but not before Lian Fei Hong oversaw the wedding between his disciple Xing Ying and Pang Tian Shun. After Fei Hong’s defeat at Jiu Di’s hands he has yet to fully recover. After the wedding the 6 of them left. After many months of wandering, they reached Jiu Yi Mountain and managed to relax. Previously they cannot enter big cities for fear of officials- they are not afraid of officials but afraid to implicate the innocent. There are many different tribes in this southern mountainous areas, and thus no eyes will be raised when they mingle among the different tribes. That’s when they decided to enter Guang Xi. It is here that they have a sense of freedom. Because the central is far away from here, the Imperial Order to kill Po Men Liu Jian did not reach here. Countless times, they have saved many villages and have made many friends and are known to the locals are the ‘Six Tigers”. To them this is another training ground.
Ever since leaving central Yan Heng felt that his swordsmanship is losing its direction; because Wudang Sect is gone. Ever since he is on this path towards revenge, he has been gauging how far he is away from Wudang Sect warriors. But now he hasn’t even defeated a single Wudang Sect expert and Wudang Sect has already disappeared. Such emptiness cannot be filled up by training and battles. Finally he went on to ask Jing Lie , Jing Lie mentioned that he cannot see that Yan Heng skills are deteriorating and that he do not believe that Yao Lian Zhou, Ye Chen Yuan and Xi Xiao Yan(M) will be killed by such a meaningless battle. He reminds Yan Heng that there is still Wu Ji Hong and Shang Cheng Yu who are out there. But Yan Heng notes that Jing Lie held back when he said that Yan Heng’s skills did not deteriorate. Yan Heng felt that as a martial artist if there is no progress, his skills are deteriorating. After the talk Yan Heng when for a walk in the mountains and he overheard a villager mentioning that there is a tiger in Hai Yang Mt. Hearing this triggers the memories of his master’s duel with Ye Chen Yuan. He remembered how strong He Zi Sheng’s Jie Xiang was that it affected the bystanders. Jie Xiang has always been an obstacle for Yan Heng, even though he learnt “Fire Burning Body” the most basic Jie Xiang, but still it is not ideal as he thought it will be .Thinking back he knows that during the duel He Zi Sheng is imagining Dragon and Tiger for his Jie Xiang. He knows that to use Jie Xiang is to imagine, to make the imagination real and the best way is to experience it yourself. If he cannot see a dragon, he can at least go and see a tiger. That is when he decided to make this trip.
Back in the cave. Yan Heng thinks about Tong Jing. About how special her sword technique is and that she is beautiful. Resisting the temptation to leave the mountain to find her, he howls and starts practicing his sword techniques. After a while he stops and notices the ‘ghost’ of He Zi Sheng appearing on the wall. One of the other reason Yan Heng decided to come to the mountain is that he knew that when He Zi Sheng was younger, he did such a solo training session in the forest for 70++ days. Such a form of training is known as “Shan Luo” in Qing Cheng Sect and it has been long forgotten. Other than He Zi Sheng no one else has done this for nearly a hundred years. He don’t know if there are any special preparations needed but what he do know is that he has to do what his master has done before. He then converse with the shadow on the wall. He isn’t crazy, he knows very clearly that the shadow and the conversation all comes from his heart.
He Zi Sheng: This isn’t Female & Male, Dragon & Tiger Sword technique
Yan Heng: I have only learnt so much in Qing Cheng. The only time I have properly seen “Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger Sword technique” is during your duel with Ye Chen Yuan
He Zi Sheng: No, not only that. What I have taught you is a lot more than what you have imagined. It’s just that you yourself have forgotten it.
Yan Heng sits down and start thinking, and it surprises him that he remembers a lot more than he imagined. Many of such memories are of him and Hou Ying Zhi together, he wonders where Ying Zhi is and if he is still holding a sword. Yan Heng then suddenly remembers something he has never thought of:
Whenever he learns a new set of sword techniques from “Wind Fire Sword” to “Shang Mi Sword” technique (total of 6 different sets of techniques) , He Zi Sheng will demonstrate the set 3 times. The 1st time happened when he first begin learning the sword techniques, the 2nd time is at the time when he just finished learning the entire set, the last time is always just before he is able to enter inter-sect competition. Back then he never suspected why his master will demonstrate such basic techniques, but now he realizes that the target of his demonstration is Yan Heng. The 1st time Yan Heng can feel the style of the sword techniques, the 2nd time is to show him the movement and the important pointers of exerting strength, and the 3rd time is its combat application.
Note: I admit I’m a little confused about this part. He Zi Sheng’s demonstration is either done 6 x 3 times or 3 x 6 times. I’m not 100 % sure which one it is but at this moment I’m inclined to think it is 6 x 3 times.
Remembering this cements Yan Heng earlier thoughts that the key in “Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger” Sword technique is in the basics. But he has only learned so much, and he has only seen the real thing in the duel between Zi Sheng and Chen Yuan, and from the little much from Lian Fei Hong’s memories.
Yan Heng: Master… Its impossible, I have only learnt so much . I can’t do your ‘Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger’
HZS: Mine? Who said you have to do my “Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger”?
This has got Yan Heng thinking. He is wondering how to find his own “Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger”. He is thinking that every martial artist has to have a moment of breakthrough. And wonders what his master’s breakthrough is? He then realizes that ‘Shan Luo” is a training ground where there is no one else, a training ground without swords. He then keeps his swords in the ground.
The assassin Yao Feng (Demon Edge) kills a businessman and 10 of his bodyguards. This assassin is actually Hou Ying Zhi. In a house nearby, Cai Qing (new character) awaits Ying Zhi and a mute. Cai Qing looks at Ying Zhi’s face and every time Ying Zhi returns Cai Qing will look at his face, simply because sometimes Ying Zhi will return with an injured face: bruising on the throat such that he can’t speak etc. The mute is one of Cai Qing’s lackeys. The mute is in charge of the escape route, of bringing the assassin to the target as well as to the hideout .Ying Zhi strips off his clothing and gives them to the mute to burn and washes himself with water. Under Cai Qing are 4 assassins and they do not know each other. Cai Qing never handles more than 4 assassins at the same time as he maybe too busy and he may slip up. He chooses his own assassins and never take recommendations from anyone. The only exception was Ying Zhi .Back then Ying Zhi killed one of Cai Qing’s assassin’s target. He told the assassin that he wants such a job. The assassin relates the message and gave Ying Zhi a test: to kill a tough target for free. Up to date Ying Zhi is the scariest assassin Cai Qing has ever seen. After getting his payment, Ying Zhi requests to not work for a month. Cai Qing is used to such a request: whenever Ying Zhi comes back from such a break his face will always be injured. As Ying Zhi leaves, Cai Qing gives him a medicine for his wounds. Cai Qing intends for Ying Zhi to be his last assassin after which he will retire. He wishes to work with Ying Zhi a little longer as he wants to hear the fear “Yao Feng” name brings and to be secretly proud that he is the one in charge of Yao Feng.
Xi Xiao Yan (female) is living in a house with Yao Lian Zhou, Ying Zhi and a maid. As of right now Ying Zhi is not home yet as he is on his way home. Technically the maid isn’t a maid, since Xiao Yan(F) tore the maid’s contract, but the maid out of gratitude willingly serves them. As the maid is combing Lian Zhou’s hair he only looks blankly at his surroundings and does not respond. As the maid is cleaning him he looks as if he is a retard, as if he has lost his soul. Xiao Yan (F) enters and asks him if he is hungry, he smiles and nods his head. When she sits besides him, he automatically holds her hand. She knows that he only feels at ease when he holds her hand. She thinks back at the irony that the Wudang Sect leader actually only feels safe when he is holding her hand. She says how good would it have been had he needed her like this in the past. But he just looks at her obsessively. Ying Zhi returns home , Xiao Yan(F) is concerned about him but he comforts her saying that his Wudang Sword technique is superior. But Xiao Yan(F) knows that nothing is certain, just like the almighty Wudang Sect. Ying Zhi bought an ear ring and gives it to Xiao Yan(F). He asks Xiao Yan(F) to take the maid and do shopping as he wants to train.
As Ying Zhi enters Lian Zhou’s room, he is worried that Lian Zhou has recovered but looking at Lian Zhou Ying Zhi knows that he has not. Ying Zhi throws a wooden sword at Lian Zhou and Lian Zhou continues looking like an idiot. Ying Zhi gets himself ready and raises his killing intent and strike Lian Zhou. Lian Zhou senses the killing intent, picks up the wooden sword, dodges the attack and holds the wooden sword in front of his chest. Ying Zhi attacks using “Hidden Claw” (a technique from ‘Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger’ sword technique that he researched together with Ye Chen Yuan), he uses his left short to ward against the tip of Lian Zhou’s sword, while striking Lian Zhou’s stomach area with his right sword. Lian Zhou uses ‘Wudang Form Sword Technique : Zhui Xing Jie Mai’ to target Ying Zhi’s right wrist. From his many training experience Ying Zhi knows that Lian Zhou will use this and uses the spine of his sword to hit Lian Zhou’s sword, but Lian Zhou’s reaction is even faster as he steps slantingly and changes his angle of attack to use Ting Jin to use Ying Zhi’s own force to attack him. Ying Zhi forcefully dodges but still the attack scraps Ying Zhi’s neck, drawing blood. He immediately lets go of his killing intent and Lian Zhou stops, had he not he would have suffered heavy injures in 1 or 2 strikes later. Lian Zhou returns to his previous state.
After the battle at Mt Wudang 2 years ago, Lian Zhou has been in such condition that he seems to have lost his soul and he seems to one without thought and he reacts only to Xiao Yan(F). Initially it was very tough on Ying Zhi to bring 2 people to escape but still he did not give up Lian Zhou not because he is his Sect Leader nor because of Xiao Yan(F)’s request but because Lian Zhou is very valuable to his martial arts journey ,giving him the chance to become the expert that he wants to be. After losing his sect for the 2nd time, Ying Zhi feels that the only way to survive is to become stronger. The 3 of them survived and Ying Zhi found Cai Qing and settled down in Lin Jiang City. Countless times he tried to get Lian Zhou to use his martial arts and he nearly died , and this was the technique he discovered to get Lian Zhou to use his martial arts. Ying Zhi prepares to continue for another round of training.
In Nan Chang City where the Prince of Ning is situated. About 10 years ago, Nan Chang City wasn’t much, but Prince of Ning bribed Eunuch Lu Jin, and now the city is like a little country. It slowly starts to absorb the land around it, and with the soldiers outside Nan Chang city, it is comparable to that of the Imperial Capital. In Nan Chang City there is a training ground big enough for 100 people to train in it. And right now there is a sparring match between Wu Ji Hong and Shang Cheng Yu. Ji Hong is unable to contain his fear and his hand which is holding the sword is shaking. He hates the fact that he is showing such fear in front of his henchmen and Huo Yao Hua. Even though Nan Chang City isn’t very cold, Cheng Yu is dressed in fox skin from head to toe. After many years of entrapment in Mt Wudang’s cave he is afraid of the cold as it reminds him of his time in the cave as well as the humiliation of his defeat to Yao Lian Zhou. Ji Hong feels that the scary part of Cheng Yu is in his aura.
The fear that he feels is on a higher level than the despair that he felt when his leg was injured by Jing Lie and had to use hostage to escape, and even higher than the time when he nearly couldn’t ward against Xi Xiao Yan (M) (before going up to Mt Wudang to escort Shang Cheng Yu) . He has been suppressed by Cheng Yu’s aura and is unable to move, but he feels that this doesn’t make sense. For these past 2 years Cheng Yu had many doctors look after him but still he cannot return to his past condition; his shoulder blades that were chained will never recover, he can only use 60% of his strength, many of his muscles have begun to atrophy and many of his joints have degenerated. On the other hand Ji Hong has been training regularly and he thought that the distance between the both of them would be close. But the moment Yi Hong faces Cheng Yu in a serious match his confidence drops, and he wonders if it was because he used to worship Cheng Yu a lot. Understanding Ji Hong’s problem, Cheng Yu tells him that they will just practice their techniques. Ji Hong attacks with full force using “Wudang Flying Dragon Sword” technique, intending to stop his attack before it hits Cheng Yu’s chest. Cheng Yu uses Tai Ji to counter. Even though Tai Ji is a “soft technique”, in real life people are always moving and it is very difficult to not use strength to defend against an attack. In the end you will still have to use strength to defend against the attack. Also, extending Tai Ji’s neutralizing capabilities to an external object will notch the difficulty up and there will be even more need to use strength. Back when Cheng Yu first escaped from Mt Wudang by killing Shi Xing Hao, the reason his Tai Ji succeeded was because he used a sudden sneak attack.
Both Ji Hong and Cheng Yu swords clash, Ji Hong’s attack overwhelms Cheng Yu’s and as his sword is very near to Cheng Yu, Ji Hong prepares to stop his attack. But at that moment there is a change, Cheng Yu draws a small circle to try to neutralize the attack. The circle even though it is small , it is just at the timing when Ji Hong’s “Flying Dragon Sword” Technique’s strength is at its end, when its power is at its weakest. It is similar to how Ye Chen Yuan managed to withstand He Zi Sheng using “Small Circle” just that Cheng Yu’s technique looks a lot more refined. Ji Hong feeling this change, changes his “hard” style to a “soft” style. Both of them are moving in a circle position, using ‘Ting Jing’ to neutralize each other’s attack. By right Ji Hong has already lost as Cheng Yu’s Tai Ji is on a higher level . But Cheng Yu is enjoying this moment. Suddenly his shoulders stiffens and his face turns white. After years of being chained and having to use such a high level technique like ‘Tai Ji’ sword technique for quite a while, his shoulder muscles loses strength. Ji Hong attacks Cheng Yu thinking that he faked such an opening. At this moment this feeling on his shoulder is similar to the feeling that he had during his duel with Lian Zhou’s nine years ago ; the way Ji Hong attacks him is similar to what Lian Zhou did. And that is his most painful moment in his life. He somehow gains strength from god knows where and uses 3 ‘Small Circle”. Ji Hong loses control of his sword and that sword flew out of his hand, Cheng Yu strikes him but Ji Hong dodges out in time. Finally Cheng Yu loses all his strength and collapses. Ji Hong goes to help him and he tells Ji Hong that no one must know of his weakness that he cannot fight for long. But Ji Hong assures him that everyone here is under control by him due to the drug (that used back in his own story arc) . Then a envoy from the Prince of Ning arrives telling him that the Prince of Ning summons him. After Cheng Yu joined the Prince of Ning, his rank rose to General. Cheng Yu told the envoy that they will be there shortly. The envoy is stunned (usually people will respond to the summon right away). The reason Cheng Yu does this is to stand out more and to make the Prince of Ning value him more .He tells Ji Hong that if they do the same thing as those around the Prince of Ning then they will only become one of them.
After taking a short break and changing their clothes the 2 of them finally decides to meet the Prince of Ning. The Prince of Ning is flanked by his two great generals Li Shi Bao (Li Jun Yuan’s stepfather) and Liu Yang Zhen, as well as his other trusted aides such as Li Jun Yuan. Many of the Prince of Ning aides do not like the both Cheng Yu and Ji Hong. Initially when Li Jun Yuan gathered martial artist for the Prince of Ning he thought that they would be easy to control. He couldn’t have imagine that there will be Wu Ji Hong who happened to turn many of their guards into his own army , and that there will be Shang Cheng Yu who will be 10 times harder to control. The Prince of Ning is being briefed about his troops’ deployment. Cheng Yu knows that as of right now the Prince doesn’t look like the kind of person who is willing to gamble everything in order to attain the highest power, and Cheng Yu decides to make him turn into such a person in order to be the final victor. Cheng Yu then voices his opinion which is full of bullcrap: he says that the deciding factor in victory is in determination. Liu Zhen Yang rebuts that in a war determination cannot feed soldiers. Cheng Yu rebuts back that soldiers who are full are fighting for their meals and that they need hungry soldiers, not the kind of hungry in the stomach but in the heart. They need soldiers who desire to accomplish goals, soldiers who are not afraid to die. In ears of a true expert of war, such a suggestion is ridiculous but then again this is no real war discussion, all of these are here to satisfy the Prince of Ning, and Cheng Yu’s words have hit home. Li Jun Yuan changes the topic saying that Wang Shou Ren has been appointed insepector-general of Nan Gan and is worried that he may be an obstacle to the Prince’s plan. The Prince suggests giving a gift to Shou Ren and that it doesn’t matter if Shou Ren accepts or not because when his plans comes to fruition Shou Ren will be silenced.
After the meeting Li Jun Yuan , his step father and Li Shi Bao stay back and discussed about Cheng Yu. The methods that he used to gain Prince trust is nothing new, they are something the 3 of them have tried before. But it’s just that due to the many years of practicing martial arts Cheng Yu has an aura that no commoner like them have . They then discuss about Wang Shou Ren, they know that he will not accept the gift. And now that all their capable fighters are all in the hands of Cheng Yu, they need to find a killer who cannot be traced back to Prince of Ning. They were thinking of finding Yan Qing Tong (the person who came up with the idea to poison Yao Lian Zhou).
These 2 years Cheng Yu has been wanting to find Lian Zhou but to no avail. Ji Hong has been trying to find “Shou She” Division survivors in order to achieve this, and has so far only found 2. He understands that even though Cheng Yu decides to chase an even bigger ambition he is still a Wudang Sect member, which is why he still has feelings for his martial arts path. Just then a lackey reports that one “Shou She” division member that they are tasked to observe seems to have some movement and is looking for someone. Cheng Yu suggests that the both of them visit this “Shou She” member tonight.
To where Yao Hua is. For the past 2 years she has never practiced martial arts. Also after the previous volume Cheng Yu has never touched her or treat her badly. Cheng Yu constantly asked her about Jing Lie. Cheng Yu knows that one day Jing Lie might become his enemy. She knows that the reason she is kept alive because she can be a valuable asset to keep Jing Lie, Hu Ling Lan and Xi Xiao Yan(M) in check. She has always been hoping that one day she will be rescued. But she gave up on that hope until one day she saw a letter with “Endure , Jing” (Jing Lie’s Jing). She does not know if this is a ploy by Cheng Yu or not but this gave her the will to continue living. Even though she does not physically train, she does image training in her mind. And every time she thinks of Xi Xiao Yan (M)’s technique, it gives her the courage. She hopes that both Jing Lie and XI Xiao Yan(M) will get stronger.
Nong Kun and 80 of his tribesmen who are known as the Wolf Army are preparing to attack the bandits hq in the forest. The bandits have caused surrounding villagers to be hungry and have snatched girls in the villages. Po Men Liu Jian helps out the Wolf Army. Tong Jing, Jing Lie and Lian Fei Hong scale up the wall of the camp. There are 6 sentries on the tower. 4 gets shot down by Ling Lan who is outside the wall, the other 2 sentries get killed by those who scale up the tower. The 3 of them then jumps inside to attack the bandits, Tong Jing and Fei Hong unlocks the gate after which Ling Lan and Yuan Xing open the huge main gate and enter . The Wolf Army then enters and they are in a narrow pathway with wooden walls at the side where archers can easily pick them off.
Tong Jing uses Jie Xiang-Mang Rui (the one where she imagines something sharp poking her back. Mang Rui can be translated into sharp tip). She uses “Zhui Xing Jie Mai” and Kong Tong’s 8 Great Techniques’ “Mo Yun Shou” (Rub Cloud Hands) to kill many bandits. Yuan Xing together with his dog kill many bandits. Using his Shaolin rod he uses Shaolin “hard” strength, Japan’s Yin Liu Blade technique and Kong Tong’s “Dao Shan Whip”’s speed to hit his enemy.Ling Lan after gaining tips from Xi Xiao Yan(M) has improved a lot. She now uses lesser strength to swing the same ferocious blade strike.
Fei Hong is heaving for breath. He knows that he is already old. When he first scaled the tower he slipped and had to use his hand to support himself, and this affected his aim when he threw his knife at the sentry which did not kill the sentry. He even had to rely on Tong Jing to kill that sentry. Looking at how Tong Jing is using his technique to fight he feels happy. He kills bandits who were awoken by the noise. He rests awhile before continuing killing other bandits. After getting injured by Lei Jiu Di, his old body has never recovered to what he was before and believes he can never go back.
4 months ago Jing Lie decided to use the medicine that Ling Lan brought back. Mainly because his shoulder and knee joints have yet to fully recover. And now he is carrying the small knife he used to defeat Lei Jiu Di, and another small blade of 2/3 meters long (one of his standard weaponry) . He encounters 17-18 of the most senior bandits, Jing Lie picks up speed and slices off 2 right fingers of the bandit nearest to him. This strike that he uses comes from his “Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi”, although he did not use the “all out jump” aspect, he draws upon the body movement and strength utilization of his Jie Xiang of Waves. After which he jumps again ,moving past 2 bandits. He knows that his “Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi” cannot be used in all scenarios, thus in the past 2 years he used that technique as base to come with different changes and the previous attack is one of it. After slicing off the fingers of that soldier, he lands and uses that energy to jump forward moving past 2 more soldiers. Seeing that there is some distance between him and a soldier in front, he jumps again. Having lost his balance after jumping twice, he body seems to be falling to the ground. That soldier then thrusts his blade at Jing Lie but Jing Lie falls faster and his whole body seemingly becomes a straight line thus dodging the attack. He uses 2 fingers to prevent himself from falling and uses it to support himself to slice that soldier’s leg. He jumps again using his right knee to hit another soldier, shattering his chest. At this moment Jing Lie’s face has no expression and is getting similar to Lian Zhou. After defeating Lei Jiu Di , his confidence has risen to another level and in front of these bandits, none of them can hurt him so there is no need to express anger or his killing aura. All the soldiers around him have fled. He then approaches the main tent and a huge soldier comes out. Jing Lie jumps off from the top of the tent, while the soldier swings his blade upwards. Jing Lie uses his small blade to block the blade while using the knife to stab the soldier’s right arm. By using the jumping down force as well as the strength of hooking the soldier’s right arm, he smashes his right elbow into the soldier’s head knocking him unconscious. Jing Lie then plunges his blade into that soldier’s head killing him. All the other bandits flee.
After the battle, Nong Kun thanks Po Men Liu Jian. Jing Lie says there is no need to thank them and now that they fulfil their part of their bargain , are they ready to fulfill their part of the bargain? Nong Kun intends to, and pledges the whole Wolf Army to fight 1 battle for them. Jing Lie intends to head to Jiang Xi to save Yao Hua. Originally Jing Lie sent people to make sure that she is alive and due to tight security in the Prince of Ning’s place Jing Lie could only have them to send a message to Yao Hua telling her to hang on living. The plan is to move off after 15 days in groups so as not to attract any attention and to head to Jiang Xi to meet Wang Shou Ren. He asks Tong Jing to wait for Yan Heng at Hai Yang Mountain so as to head there together when Yan Heng is done.
On the 88th night in the mountain. Yan Heng is now very skinny. For the past 40 days he has been eating very little-only fruits. He is feeling anxious of not having his swords in his hands hence his brain keeps on thinking , resulting in him getting very little sleep.Initially it was very tough for him to not hold his swords. He has the thought of replacing everything that he picked up as a sword, and he has to focus on his mental strength to give up this thought. He even imagined that he has swords on his hips. This is a very difficult thing for it, it is akin to asking a eagle to give up its wings. But one day the image of those swords became lighter. And then he does not imagine everything that he holds on to as a sword.He is also able to learn to blend into the surroundings. Ever since that day the hallucination of He Zi Sheng never appeared again. He has more than once thought of escaping the mountain but in the end he didn’t as he felt that he is nearing on to something. And that if he gave up he will never get this close again.
Back in this cave he wrote 4 sentences of words, words that he has never heard or seen before. As he keeps searching his brain, he is unable take it anymore and runs into the forest. That’s when he realized the tiger is nearby. He looks at how beautiful and terrifying the tiger is. He observes the tiger’s every step, its posture and its aura. The tiger then attacks Yan Heng, and he dodges it. Knowing that he cannot face the tiger, he runs. The tiger chases after him and Yan Heng keeps on dodging the attack. Even while he is escaping, and even if it is such a high speed chase at night he is still observing the tiger’s movement and form , putting his newly heightened sense to good use. Even though it is at night , the moonlight shines on the tiger showing its silhouette, Yan Heng’s eyes seemingly is able to look into the tiger, to see how its muscles and joints work. However he made a mistake of not paying attention to where he is running to. After dodging 4 attacks, both the tiger and Yan Heng are tired.
At this point in time, they have run to a dead end at the edge of the cliff. Yan Heng then picks up a branch from the ground naturally and when he does that he never has the thought that he has to pick up a sword. And when he holds the branch he never notices that he has already hold on to a sword. As of now he has truly attain “Human and Sword As One”. He isn’t in any stance but the tiger slows and stops and notices a change in Yan Heng; that he is no longer a prey. Yan Heng looks at the tiger at at this moment and he clearly sees the image of the tiger. Thinking back about his “Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger” Sword technique he manages to open many pathways and he understands many of the sword stances. As long as he is able to get back to fuse this Tiger Image with his sword techniques he will improve greatly. The tiger then notices another change in him, as if he suddenly becomes big, and that he emits a very dangerous scent. Yan Heng then unknowingly uses Jie Xiang “Tiger Force” . This danger ignites the tiger’s killer instinct and this time it does not retreat, instead it steps forward. Yan Heng is thinking that it is impossible to defeat a tiger by imitating a tiger, that he has to pursue an image that surpasses the tiger. He tries thinking what could defeat the tiger, he tries hard but he couldn’t think of any, as there in nothing in this world that could do it. Yan Heng then realizes the changes in his surroundings, the branches and leaves around him becomes very clear, the cold winds in the mountain is like a blade pricking his skin. A door opens in his head and his power of imagination pours out like a torrent, 88 nights of training, of enduring the loneliness, of imagining painful and horrifying hallucinations, all of it was for this moment. An image of something never seen before appears in Yan Heng. The tiger notices another change in Yan Heng, this time the tiger felt fear and runs away. Yan Heng then collapses to the floor, and he is sweating nonstop. The unknown image then disappears, he doesn’t know what it is and does not dare to try calling it out. But he is smiling as he knows that one day he will definitely see it again.
Tong Jing has waited for Yan Heng for 20 days. Yan Heng finally descends from the mountain. She notices that he seems to have changed into another person, the aura that he gives off is very similar to when they are both alone in the burning house in Jiang Xi. She tells Yan Heng that previously he is Qing Cheng Sect’s Yan Heng, now he is Yan Heng. He replies that she is the one that understands him the most .She leaps into Yan Heng’s embrace. Yan Heng holds her hands as they embark on their journey to Jiang Xi . Yan Heng can’t wait to show the world his sword techniques. He also has matters that he wants to ask Wang Shou Ren (I suppose the 4 sentences?)
At Nan Jing City. A 8 Trigram Sect member Shi Dong Ming , his disciple and a chamberlain are walking at night. There is a blind man carrying a big sack walking towards them. The blind man questions if he is Shi Dong Ming of 8 Trigram Sect. Dong Ming then enters heightened alert condition and at that moment he realizes that a certain rumor is true, that in the recent 3 -4 months there is a mysterious martial arts who has been challenging others at night, killing them and taking away their weapons. This blind man turns out to be Wei Dong Liu, he was mistaken as a blind man because of his disguise and his walking stick. Both of them then duels. Dong Liu didn’t do a surprise attack on Dong Ming because he wants Dong Ming to get ready for the duel. Dong Ming places his blade in front of him and is ready to use his “Ye Zhan Lao Bao Dao” (Night Battle Old 8 Blade) technique. Wei Dong Liu is using dual blades that he got from killing his previous victim. He advances towards Dong Ming. Dong Ming has experience dealing with dual blades user and knowing that he uses such a big blade, he has to observe the moment when the enemy makes a move and then attack so as to overwhelm the enemy. Within 7 steps away Dong Liu still doesn’t change his movement and is coming in a straight line. Dong Ming has never seen such a battle style. Within 5 steps away. Dong Ming has 3 choices of moving backwards, attacking from the front or from the left/right. Moving back is not an option. Attacking from either side will leave his other side open. He then does a downward slash. But Dong Liu uses his “Wudang Line Sword” technique to sidestep to the left and stabs into Dong Ming’s left armpit and right rib. Dong Liu has actually calculated Dong Ming’s mentality. When he is forced to attack, his mind will definitely be calculating on what to do and this will affect his power and speed, thus Dong Liu uses this opportunity to attack. The blade by right should be able to slice Dong Liu’s right leg, but with Dong Ming’s armpit being stabbed, the blade misses Dong Liu’s leg. Dong Liu then kills all 3 of them. Upon seeing blood Dong Liu smiles, he has been addicted to such stuff after the Battle on Mt Wudang.
Cheng Yu and Ji Hong then appear before him, previously both watched the duel between Dong Ming and Dong Liu. Both Ji Hong and Dong Liu recognizes each other. When Ji Hong left Wudang , Dong Liu was only 20 years old and has been on Wudang for 4 years. He remembers Dong Liu because his talent is pretty good. Ji Hong previously killed the “Shou She” Division person that was mentioned earlier in the volume, that member was not willing to divulge anything. Dong Liu manages to guess who Cheng Yu is and doesn’t mind about the whole “traitor of Wudang” situation because now Wudang Sect is gone. Cheng Yu is able to tell that Dong Liu is doing this because he likes killing people. Cheng Yu invites Dong Liu to join him, he tells him that if Dong Liu joins he will get to kill a lot of people, the more he kills the more people will talk about him, and also he won’t have to kill people in the shadows. Cheng Yu gives Dong Liu the choice of being a sheep or a ferocious tiger. Dong Liu is considering Cheng Yu’s words.
Ye Chen Yuan and Xi Xiao Yan(M) then appears at the place where Dong Ming died. Chen Yuan face is described as pale. The reason they are here is because the “Shou She” Division member notified them that a mysterious expert is here and has been using Wudang Sword techniques. But when they arrived to find the Shou She member, he was dead and have signs of being tortured. Chen Yuan can tell from the wounds that the swords that strike Dong Ming are fast, and that Wudang sect’s technique is used but not it’s not Lian Zhou’s. Looking at that Dong Ming’s blade is still beside him they deduce that this person has contact with the one who killed the “Shou She" Division person. And that person has been taken away be it willingly or forcefully. They left. Xiao Yan(M) thinks that it is a pity that they could have nearly found another comrade. While Chen Yuan is only thinking of finding Lian Zhou. After the battle 2 years ago, it took Chen Yuan 1 month to recover and after losing one of his arms he felt like he lost half of his soul. He has been bedridden for all these while until approximately 3 months ago when some “Shou She” Division members found them. There are about 10 of them now. Xiao Yan (M) as the strongest naturally became the leader. Some of them suggested killing the emperor. But Chen Yuan got up from his bed and said to find Lian Zhou as he is future of Wudang Sect and without him , killing 10 Emperors is also meaningless. One of the “Shou She” division questions if Lian Zhou is alive, but Xiao Yan(M) says that his name is still on the Imperial Court wanted list. Xiao Yan (M) is disappointed that they lost another Wudang member and that his hopes of finding Lian Zhou once again fell flat. At this moment he thinks of Yao Hua , if she went to find Jing Lie . It shocked him that Jing Lie has defeated Lei Jiu Di and has achieved such a peak in his martial arts journey while on the other hand his own journey ahead of him is bleak. If this was in the past, he would surely have gone to find Jing Lie but now it is different.
He is now carrying on a huge responsibility. Wudang Sect has to survive through him. He tells himself to forget Ling Lan, Yao Hua and Jing Lie and that he may never again be able to see them. But he doesn’t know that he is very wrong. In this world there is a type of entangling fate that no matter how sharp your sword is, it is not that easy to cut it off.
END.
Po Men Liu Jian leads the Wolf Army to Jiang Xi where they stage an rescue in a battle of wits and strength
The Prince of Ning party attempts to harm Wang Shou Ren
But it sparks off a fateful encounter in a sword and sword fight
Qing Cheng Sect Highest Technique “Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger” Sword Technique appears again in this world!
So i guess Ying Zhi will finally meet Yan Heng again. This volume came out way earlier than expected. So i guess you can check in every 2-3 months or so to see if the next volume is released.
Just a quick update, the latest volume was out around July (i think). But I am freaking busy, even more busy than usual. The earliest that i can do the usual translation is by late December-early January. Initially i was thinking of writing a quick 5 liner summary but i don't even have the time to do that. Late December-early January it is then.
--- Double Post Merged, , Original Post Date: ---
Volume 17 is already out, i should be able to start around May and should be able to get it done by May. There are alot of Qing Cheng Sect techniques hence I added another section on it.
Character List
· Po Men Liu Jian:
Yan Heng: From Qing Cheng Sect
Jing Lie : From Nan Hai Hu Zhun Sect
Hu Ling Lan : From Japan
Tong Jing: Daughter of the Head of Ming Jiang Gang
Lian Fei Hong : ex-leader of Kong Tong Sect.
Yuan Xing: Shaolin Monk
· Wudang Sect :
Yao Lian Zhou: Leader
Ye Chen Yuan: Vice leader, head of Bing Ya Division
Xi Xiao Yan (M): Guy with the long arm from Bing Ya div.
Hou Ying Zhi: Yan Heng’s friend. Originally from Qing Cheng Sect but joined Wudang Sect after Qing Cheng Sect’s destruction. After the destruction of Wudang Sect, he became an assassin.
Wei Dong Liu: From Bing Ya Division. Was there when Wudang Sect challenged Qing Cheng Sect.
Xi Xiao Yan (F): Not to be confused with the Xi Xiao Yan above. Maid from the brothel that Lian Zhou brought back with him from Xi An.
· Prince of Ning’s gang:
Prince of Ning: Part of the Imperial Royal Family. Trying to usurp the throne.
Shang Cheng Yu: Previously known as Shang Shi Xiong. The 3rd Vice Leader of Wudang. Also known as the Traitor of Wudang. 1st member of the ‘He She’ elites of Shou She Division.
Wu Ji Hong : Previously known as WDK (Wave Dragon Technique King).
Li Jun Yuan: Trusted aide of the Prince of Ning. The person who tried to recruit Jing Lie & co after the battle in Xi An.
· Wolf Army: Tribesmen whom Po Men Liu Jian helped out in the previous volume.
Nong Kun: Member of the Wolf Army
Yue Lang: Leader of the Wolf Army
· Kong Tong Sect:
Xing Ying: Lian Fei Hong’s disciple.
· Imperial Court:
Wang Shou Ren: Governor who got to know Po Men Liu Jian during the arc where WDK was first introduced. Together with Po Men Liu Jian they managed to defeat WDK and his forces and save the people of Jiang Xi
Song Li: Originally from Qing Cheng Sect. Now a concubine of the Emperor.
Jiang Bin: Bigshot in the Imperial Court who appeared in Novel 4. He was previously Official-in-charge of the Jin Yi Wei.
· Others:
Huo Yao Hua: Ex bandit. Was once part of WDK’s group before deciding to leave him. In the previous volume she was captured by Shang Cheng Yu
Yan Qing Tong: The one who had Yao Lian Zhou poisoned back in Xi’An.
Cai Qing: The supervisor in charge of the Assassin Yao Feng (Hou Ying Zhi)
Meng Qi He: A bandit who first appeared when in the arc where WDK was introduced. He later join forces with Wang Shou Ren and Po Men Liu Jian to defeat WDK’s army.
· Jie Xiang: A technique whereby the user uses the power of imagination to increase the user’s capabilities.
· Jiang Hu: The martial arts community
· ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’: Jing Lie’s ultimate attack. The one where he stands on 1 leg to propel himself forward to spin his whole body in the air to attack with his blade. It can be translated into Waves Steel Slashing Force.
· Fa Jin: To discharge power explosively
· Ting Jing: Also known as Listening Power. It is the technique to sense opponent’s force
· Zhui Xing Jie Mai:A high level Wudang Sword Technique whereby the user aims his/her sword at the enemy’s vitals before the enemy attack can land. Should the enemy continues attacking, his/her vitals will be slashed by this technique.
Qiong Cang Po: Can be translated as Breaking the sky. Technique where user leaps from afar to attack (Take a look at manhua volume 2 chapter 6)
Shaking Scale: Refer to volume 2 chapter 6
Fu Lang: An attack such that when used, the user’s palm and fingers are facing outwards. When its attacks are coming from downwards to the top, it seems to be striking between an arc and a line.
Shi Ming: User uses long sword to support the enemy’s sword at the bottom before using short sword to hit enemy’s sword. This technique is used to destroy enemy’s weapons.
Tan Zhi: User uses short sword to attack from underneath his right armpit.
Kai Yun
Liu Feng:
Hu Lei Xiao: Can be translated as Tiger Thunder Howl. Qing Cheng Sect’s another killing technique other than Qiong Cang Po. Unlike ‘Qiong Cang Po’ which is like a dragon flying in the skies, jumping from a far distance to attack. ‘Hu Lei Xiao’ is imitating a tiger moving down a hill. It does not rely on stretching the user’s body and arms to attack but rather to use the legs and hips explosive power to use the user’s full body to attack. There is little movement being made when initiating this attack and since it relies on using 1 step to sprint forward, this attack unlike ‘Qiong Cang Po’ can only be used in close quarter combat. This is one of the few Qing Cheng techniques which uses ‘hard’ to counter ‘hard’. This technique is meant for higher level Qing Cheng Sect disciples; if the user strength is not enough or lacks the explosive leg power required, it will mean diving straight into the enemy’s sword.
Tiger Pounce:
Jing Lie, Hu Ling Lan , Yan Heng , Tong Jing , Dai Kui and Lian Fei Hong left Xi An together. They spent the time together by training with each other. After some time Dai Kui decided to leave to report back to his master. Since Jing Lie wanted to find a smith to sharpen their weapons, Dai Kui suggested that they go to find a famous smith named Han Shi Zi in Lu Ling.
On their way to Lu Ling , Jing Lie & co met Yuan Xing. Yuan Xing decided to stay behind to help the villagers out while the others head towards Lu Ling. Upon reaching Lu Ling, they discovered a big baddie named WDK. Also they got to know Lu Ling’s ex magistrate Wang Shou Ren who just arrived. Jing Lie and a villager decided to go recce on the enemy’s hideout. In the process the villager died and Jing Lie was severely injured but still Jing Lie managed to kill WDK’s most trusted ally; his Shi Di Mei Xin Shu. Yuan Xing then joined the rest in Lu Ling. Tong Jing named their group of 6 Po Men Liu Jian. Wang Shou Ren launched an assault comprising of Po Men Liu Jian, bandits and a group of Lu Ling’s citizens. Even though they destroyed WDK’s hideout, WDK and his lackeys escaped due to a hostage situation. Han Shi Zi is found to be alive and helped Po Men Liu Jian sharpened their weapons.
Po Men Liu Jian left Lu Ling to pay the corrupted officials who are linked to WDK’s drug business a visit. After some time, they tracked down Qian Qing, god son of Qian Ning ( Head of the Royal Guards). Fei Hong killed Qian Qing. Ling Lan left the group to find a cure for Jing Lie . 3 days later Qian Ning is notified about the death of Qian Qing and is very angry about it, he managed to convince the Emperor to issue an Imperial Decree to all major sects ordering them kill Po Men Liu Jian.
Wudang Sect refused the Imperial Decree and is the only sect to do so. Meanwhile Ling Lan encountered Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan (The male one, not the female. Previously he left Wudang Sect to find Jing Lie). They then decided to head to Wudang Sect to get the cure for Jing Lie. Qian Ning decided to help the Prince of Ning after being notified of his plans where Qian Ning is to convince the Emperor to launch an assault on Wudang Sect, so that the Prince of Ning can steal some gunpowder and cannons among other things. Qian Ning managed to convince the Emperor of launching an assault on Wudang Sect. Meanwhile Mi Zong Sect launched an attack on Po Men Liu Jian (minus Ling Lan). Po Men Liu Jian managed to escape and left the area by getting help from 8 Trigrams Sect.
The Imperial Army that was sent after Wudang was situated at the foot of Mt Wudang when the 6 ‘He She’ members infiltrate the Army Camp to list down the locations of the gunpowder. The plan was for them to ignite all the gunpowder spots when they assault the Army camp the next day. But halfway through there was an explosion and the army realized about the infiltration. Thus the ‘He She’ members have no choice but to escape. Along the way some members of ‘Bing Ya’ Division arrived to help fend off the Imperial Army while some of ‘He She’ managed to successfully escape.
The 8 Trigrams Sect and Po Men Liu Jian (minus Ling Lan) are hiding in Xiang Tan. Jing Lie is currently being treated by Yan You Fo. Lei Jiu Di together with his disciple came up a plan to discover their hiding location, which succeeded. 8 Trigrams Sect was lured out to deal with Han Shan Hu and Mi Zong Sect while Lei Jiu Di and a few of his disciples attack Po Men Liu Jian’s hiding location. Lei Jiu Di forced Jing Lie to a duel which will take place 15 days later (Jing Lie needs 15 days to recover). Lei Jiu Di needed a guarantee that Jing Lie will uphold his promise and took Tong Jing as a hostage.
Hu Ling Lan, Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan met WDK on their way up to Mt Wudang. That is when they realized Wudang Sect’s predicament. WDK is on his way to collect the gunpowder and weapons left behind by the Imperial Army, and to deliver it to the Prince of Ning once he is done. He is also on his way to rescue Shang Shi Xiong. Xi Xiao Yan and WDK clashed but WDK retreated in the end. Hu Ling Lan, Huo Yao Hua and Xi Xiao Yan continued heading towards Mt Wudang.
Even though Tong Jing is kept as a hostage she is treated decently. She spent her time observing Jiu Di practicing martial arts. Every time he enters “God’s Descent’ he feels like he is entering a black abyss and it gets harder to get out every single time. But with Tong Jing around she is like the light that shines in the darkness, guiding him back out of “God’s Descent” properly. Once she tried to persuade Jiu Di to not fight Jing Lie, but Jiu Di will only agree if she becomes his disciple. Jiu Di is worried about not having a successor as not even Han Shan Hu is guaranteed to fully master “God’s Descent”. Han Shan Hu overheard Jiu Di saying this and is determined to destroy her.
It turns out Jiang Ni Er , the cripple in Wudang Sect is the spy for the Imperial Court. He sent a pigeon carrier to the Imperial Army that Wudang Sect is retreating up the mountains. This was discovered by Fan Zong and another ‘He She’ member. But before Ni Er could do anything more he committed suicide. However only the non-combatants of Wudang Sect retreated up the mountains while the rest lie in wait for the Imperial Army.
One night before the duel between Jing Lie and Jiu Di, Han Shan Hu intended to violate and kill Tong Jing. But she noticed his arrival and a fight broke out. However Jiu Di soon arrived to interfere hence stopping the fight. Shan Hu tried to lie his way out however Tong Jing mentioned that if Jiu Di kills Shan Hu she will be his disciple. Jiu Di then attacks Shan Hu , however soon more Mi Zong Sect members arrive. Shan Hu lies to the others saying that it was Jiu Di who was violating Tong Jing and in the past Jiu Di captured girls to learn unorthodox martial arts. The mass then attacked Jiu Di and Tong Jing which ended with Shan Hu escaping and many Mi Zong Sect members dead. Yan Heng , Yuan Xing and others soon arrive. Jiu Di collapses after the fight is over. Tong Jing had Yan Heng carries Jiu Di and together they return to where the others are.
While Wudang is waiting for the attack by the Imperial Army, Shi Xing Hao heads to the dungeon where Shang Cheng Yu is imprisoned. Xing Hao wants to kill Cheng Yu and revealed that 7 years ago he was the one who poisoned Cheng Yu before Cheng Yu’s duel with Lian Zhou for the position of Wudang Sect Leader, resulting in Cheng Yu being unconscious in the middle of the duel. The reason Xing Hao did this was because Cheng Yu has been drifting away from the Wudang Sect that Gong Sun Qing envisioned, Xing Hao knows that Cheng Yu is not seeking the peak of martial arts but rather power. Xing Hao fabricated documents that Cheng Yu was already a general in the Imperial Army and would have Wudang Sect train the soldiers should Cheng Yu become Wudang Sect Leader(Lian Zhou doesn’t know the truth behind all of these). Despite all these Lian Zhou refused to kill Cheng Yu, instead imprisoning him.
The fight between Cheng Yu and Xing Hao results in Xing Hao’s death. Before the fight, Cheng Yu already had the chains that bound him removed (because of a erosive liquid that Ning Er gave him). Cheng Yu then proceeds to escape from the prison.
Wudang Sect then clashed with the Imperial Army. Hou Ying Zhi is in the Bing Ya Division. Xi Xiao Yan (F) is looking at the battle from the mountains above and starts running down towards the battlefield.
The general in charge sees how fearsome Wudang Sect is in close combat and despite having his forces mixed together with Wudang Sect he orders for the cannons strike. Wudang Sect suffers casualties however Lian Zhou and many others retreat to Yu Zhen Palace where they hide in trenches that they have dug. The whole ‘He She’ elites of the Shou She Division attack the army, with Fan Zong killing the General in charge. But this resulted in the death of all 7 ‘He She’ members.
Xi Xiao Yan(M), Hu Ling Lan and Huo Yao Hua reaches Mt Wudang and splits into 2 groups. Xiao Yan(M) tells Hu Ling Lan where to get the medicine for Jing Lie and tells her to bring Yao Hua to Jing Lie. After getting hold of the medicine they met Shang Cheng Yu who mistook the 2 ladies as Wu Ji Hong’s lackeys. Yao Hua after sensing that the both of them cannot take him on, she manages to trick Cheng Yu into allowing Ling Lan to leave. After which Cheng Yu violates her.
After the death of the General in charge, the army faces a temporal lack of leadership which caused disarray in the troops. Wudang Sect then launches its counter attack after the cannons strike died down. The Imperial Army started taking heavy casualties, but then a few military soldiers decide to take lead to fire at Wudang Sect members even though there are many friendlies among them. This ultimately tips the battle in the Imperial Army’s favor. Even though the army took heavy damage, Wudang Sect was ultimately wiped out with only a few survivors. Wei Dong Liu a new character that was introduced manages to escape. Xi Xiao Yan(F) came down to the battlefield to look for Hou Ying Zhi and in the process Yao Lian Zhou was seriously injured due to a cannon explosion nearby. Hou Ying Zhi arrives in time to save the both of them and escape from Mt Wudang. Ye Chen Yuan loses his left hand and Xi Xiao Yan(M) arrives in time to save him and together they escape from Mt Wudang. Xi Xiao Yan (M) is feeling guilty for not standing together with his comrades in battle. And after having walked past countless of his comrades’ dead bodies, he now knows that he is carrying a heavy responsibility on his shoulder.
Wu Ji Hong arrives at Mt Wudang to meet Shang Cheng Yu. He explains that he has joined the Prince of Ning and the rationale behind it and prepares to escort Shang Cheng Yu to join the Prince of Ning. Shang Cheng Yu praises Wu Ji Hong for doing the right thing, and will help the Prince of Ning usurp the throne and to one day steal it from him. Shang Cheng Yu brings along Huo Yao Hua with him.
After the night where Lei Jiu Di killed 40+ of his Mi Zong Sect members he was rescued by Yan Heng and nursed to full health. Lei Jiu Di and Jing Lie then agree to have a duel 2 months later. During this two months Tong Jing developed her first Jie Xiang. Also news of the Imperial Army’s victory at the Battle on Mt Wudang spread. Jing Lie is visibly affected and Po Men Liu Jian(minus Hu Ling Lan) has no idea if the Wudang Sect experts survive or not. It is revealed that details of the battle are shrouded in secrecy as it is a humiliation to the Imperial Court for having the General in charge killed in the middle of the battle, and also because of the massive losses that the army faced. Also this battle was never written down in the history books. Xing Ying and Pang Tian Shun are betrothed to each other.
And after 2 months the duel happened but not before Hu Ling Lan arrives and now Po Men Liu Jian is whole. During this period of time Jing Lie has recovered substantially and during the duel he manages to kill Lei Jiu Di.
Jiang Bin is now the Emperor’s number 1 person instead of Qian Ning and has replaced Qian Ning as the leader in charge of the Jin Yi Wei (the Imperial Military police). Song Li has previously discovered that Yan Heng is one of Po Men Liu Jian and has been working desperately to convince the Emperor to get rid of Po Men Liu Jian’s death warrant.
It has been 2 years after the battle on Mt Wudang. Jing Lie is famous throughout Wulin after killing Lei Jiu Di. Fei Hong’s disciple Xing Ying and Pang Tian Shun got married. After the wedding, Po Men Liu Jian left and decided to stay at Guang Xi.
Yan Heng is undergoing training at a nearby mountain as he attempts to follow his master’s footsteps as He Zi Sheng once did a similar training. Another reason is that he wants to meet a real tiger so as to develop Jie Xiang of a tiger.
Yao Lian Zhou, Hou Ying Zhi and Xiao Yan (F) are all alive. However, for Lian Zhou he seems to have lost his soul and mind and is someone without any thought. He doesn’t speak and only reacts to Xiao Yan(F). For the past 2 years Ying Zhi has been an assassin. And after returning from a job he spars with the now mindless Lian Zhou; the only way to get Lian Zhou to fight back is for him to raise his killing intent and attack Lian Zhou.
Back in Nan Chang City in the Prince of Ning residence, Wu Ji Hong and Shang Cheng Yu are sparring. Cheng Yu has been given the rank of Dragon General after joining the Prince of Ning. Despite seeing countless doctors, Cheng Yu is unable to return to his prime condition. He can now only use 60% of his strength and cannot fight for long. Both are then summoned to a meeting with the Prince of Ning and his trusted aides. Li Jun Yuan raised the point that Wang Shou Ren has been appointed inspector-general of Nan Gan and is worried that he may be an obstacle to the Prince’s plan. He and his father then plan to find a killer who cannot be traced back to the Prince of Ning to kill Wang Shou Ren.
For the past 2 years Cheng Yu has been trying to find Lian Zhou. And after the meeting, Cheng Yu and Ji Hong decides to visit a “Shou She” member after getting intel that this member has some movements.
Yao Hua is also alive but is staying at Cheng Yu’s place. She hasn’t been ill-treated but is not allowed to leave.
Po Men Liu Jian minus Yan Heng helped the villagers to get rid of bandits with the help of the Wolf Army (tribesmen). As part of the promise to get rid of the bandits, the wolf army will now help them save Huo Yao Hua. After 88 days Yan Heng encounters a tiger and developed the Jie Xiang of Tiger and unknowingly unlocks the Jie Xiang of an even more ferocious beast. He then completes his training and leaves the mountain to meet Tong Jing and together they make their way to rendezvous with the rest.
Cheng Yu and Ji Hong manages to meet with Wei Dong Liu after torturing the “Shou She” member. Wei Dong Liu has been challenging martial artist for the past 2 years and has just defeated someone. They invite Dong Liu to join them. Chen Yuan and Xiao Yan (M) arrives at the vicinity some time later. They have been trying to find Lian Zhou for a long time as Chen Yuan believes that finding Yao Lian Zhou is key.
Chapter 1
1st chapter starts out with a leader of a large group of bandits escaping from his hideout together with some of his lackeys while trying to figure out why he kept on losing, only to be ambush by one of Wang Shou Ren’s troops. The bandit leader chose to surrender as he wants to meet Shou Ren face to face. On his execution day, he saw the artisan who built the defenses of his hideout and understood why Shou Ren knows about the defenses and escape route of his hideout. He then finally got to see Shou Ren. Initially he was shocked that Shou Ren is a scholar but he later realizes that Shou Ren has intelligence beyond normal men. Shou Ren orders the bandit leader to be executed. In less than a year, Shou Ren managed to destroy 3 bandit lairs, a problem that has been around for decades, hence greatly shocking many others. However, he knows the reason he was sent here to Jiang Xi, and even he is not sure if he can win.
Chapter 2
Ye Chen Yuan is having image training with a “white shadow” who basically is Yao Lian Zhou and He Zi Sheng combined. Since he has decided to make full use of his disabled body, he has to find a way to fight. He goes into a horse stance, uses ‘Jie Xiang’ of a bird of prey and launches himself using ‘Wudang Flying Dragon Sword’ Technique combining the principle of ‘Wudang Flying Dragon Sword’, the secret of ‘Male & Female, Dragon and Tiger Sword’’s ‘Qiong Cang Po’ as well as Emei’s Sect spear thrusting Fa Jin (refer to Terminology in this volume) technique.
He gambles everything on this move, but halfway through there is a disgusting feeling in his chest and he vomits hence bringing him back to reality. Ever since Chen Yuan has recovered after the Battle on Mt Wudang, he immediately goes back to training but his main problem is to get use to his new body which has only 1 arm. It seems simple to change to fighting with just 1 arm. But without his left arm, the balance of his whole body has changed, even walking and turning his hips feels different. It is very difficult for him to deal with this as all these years he has been training his balance as well as his ability to sense his own body, hence all these have been deeply ingrained in him. To totally change this, it is tougher than someone who hasn’t trained his body to such an extent. With the help of Xi Xiao Yan(M), he managed to find a way to slowly pick back up his sword techniques. But still he hits another obstacle regarding the technique to infuse ‘Tai Ji’ with ‘Wudang Flying Dragon Sword’. To use ‘Ting Jing’ while he is midair requires very precise concentration, his newly developed balance is unable to handle this and when he is unable to bear it he will feel giddy.
Chen Yuan, Xiao Yan(M) and another ‘Shou She’ member are actually following Yan Qing Tong. After the previous volume whereby Chen Yuan and Xiao Yan (M) missed out Wei Dong Liu (though they have no idea it was Dong Liu), they had no idea on where to find Lian Zhou. But Xiao Yan(M) remembers the conversation with Wu Ji Hong that Prince of Ning is related with the destruction of Wudang Sect. Hence they decided to inquire about the Prince of Ning’s movements. That is when they saw Yan Qing Tong doing work for The Prince of Ning. When they realized he left Nan Chang with a lot of men, they decided to follow him.
The two members look at Chen Yuan and see that he looks as if he is a zombie without any life. Xiao Yan (M) then thought of Huo Yao Hua, thought of her promise of not dying and wonders if she is still alive.
Story switches to Cai Qing. Yan Qing Tong has already hired Cai Qing to assassinate Wang Shou Ren. Cai Qing has gotten Hou Ying Zhi to take up this job.
Story switches to Nong Kun and 2 other tribemates who are freed from a prison in Jiu Jiang City and are brought to see Li Jun Yuan. Nong Kun ignores his greetings and starts eating food on the table. This was exactly the same place where Jun Yuan tried to get Po Men Liu Jian to join the Prince of Ning years back. Jun Yuan invites Nong Kun here with the intention of getting the tribesmen to join the Prince of Ning. Nong Ku says that there are 70 of them here and this excites Jun Yuan as the tribesmen are known to be stronger than normal soldiers.
Story switches to where the leader of the tribesmen, Yue Lang and 8 other tribesmen are. They are leaving Jiu Jiang City to ensure that none of the Prince of Ning men are following Nong Kun & co out of the city. They then head to the hideout where the rest of their tribesmen and Po Men Liu Jian (minus Yan Heng & Tong Jing) are. Their plan is to rescue Huo Yao Hua. Jing Lie decided that since The Prince of Ning is trying very hard to recruit people, this is a very good way to get them to open the door for them. However, if the whole wolf army delivers itself to the Prince of Ning it might be too suspicious hence they did a detour and then head back to Jiu Jiang City. Knowing that there are a lot of eyes and ears in Jiu Jiang, it would very suspicious if the such a big group of Wolf Army enters Jiu Jiang City. Hence he had Nong Kung deliberately get caught while committing a crime just to get thrown into prison, this way it will make the Prince of Ning’s men less suspicious; they may think that the Wolf Army are desperate people who are at their wits end. Nong Kun tells Jing Lie that 7 days later the Wolf Army will be received at the Prince of Ning place. Po Men Liu Jian knows that inside lies Wu Ji Hong and Shang Cheng Yu these 2 troublesome fellow. Hence Jing Lie tells Fei Hong that in order to deal with this situation Fei Hong has to stay in Jiu Jiang for 3 more days to do something before meeting up with the rest.
Chapter 3
In Gan Zhou City, Hou Ying Zhi lies in wait to strike. Wang Shou Ren, Meng Qi He and 2 of his civilian soldiers are on the way back to the government office. He thinking about the Prince of Ning, how he has bribed many officials such that even the Emperor does not know of anything.
Back to Hou Ying Zhi. He is offered 5 times the normal pay to kill this 3rd rank official. He is feeling anxious as he has a premonition that tonight will be special.
Just as Shou Ren & co enter the government office, one of his students tells him that while he was away, there were friends who arrived and are currently resting inside. But before the student could mention who they are, a tile at the rooftop broke. Qi He quickly stands in front and looks at the top. But that was a distraction. Ying Zhi jumps out from behind a pillar, removes the black cloth that covers his swords and strike at Qi He. But Qi He manages to jump back and clashes his blades with Ying Zhi’s sword.
The clashing sound reverberates throughout the whole compound. No one could understand what the sound is except for the 2 guests, who then quickly leave their rooms.
Back to the battle between Ying Zhi and Qi He. After 12 slashes, Qi He is covered in blood and his body is shivering uncontrollably due to the loss of blood, and he is now relying on 1 leg to stand. But still he is determined to stand in front of Shou Ren. That is when Shou Ren mentions “wait”, and proceeds to pull Qi He to the side. Qi He says that his life is Shou Ren’s but Shou Ren replies that their lives are not his but their own (He is always also referring the rest who are around). Shou Ren then looks at Ying Zhi, Ying Zhi has never seen anyone like that. In his eyes Ying Zhi could see that Shou Ren has no fear of death but a sense of power in it, something that Ying Zhi has always desire. The presence of Shou Ren made Ying Zhi hesitate but ultimately he decides to kill him. But just then, he felt danger from his right side, and that is when he saw a shadow flying towards him. Golden light emits from the swords of the approaching shadow and Ying Zhi has seen it before; 4 years ago on Mt Qing Cheng.
Chapter 4
Flashback to the start of the battle between He Zi Sheng and Ye Chen Yuan. He Zi Sheng “flys” to attack and it is the very same golden light that is being emitted from Zi Sheng’s sword. Back to present. What surprises Ying Zhi is not the golden light but that person’s vigor and stance. It’s the ‘Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger Sword’’s ‘Qiong Cang Po’ technique. Even though he learnt it from the sword manual and has practiced with Ye Chen Yuan, both of them have never managed to use ‘Qiong Cang Po’ to have the same appearance as that of He Zi Sheng’s (Which means to say that person’s Qiong Can Po is similar to He Zi Sheng’s). Without any thought, Ying Zhi brings two of his swords forward and uses ‘Taji Sword’ ‘Small Ring’ technique, it’s the same move that Ye Chen Yuan used to counter Zi Sheng’s ‘Qiong Cang Po’ (Go take a look at the manhua volume 2 chapter 6). Though Ying Zhi has never learnt Tai Ji because he is not suited to learn, he has constantly practiced with Chen Yuan and has unknowingly absorbed many of Tai Ji Sword deflecting technique. Without any Tai Ji prowess, this “Small Ring” becomes a technique which uses 2 swords to forcefully take the attack. With ‘Qiong Cang Po’’s energy expanded, the moment Yan Heng’s right feet touches the floor, he uses ‘Shaking Scale’, just like how Zi Sheng used it to deal with ‘Small Ring’. (Refer to manhua volume 2 chapter 6).
Ying Zhi keeps on thinking why is Yan Heng here. Yan Heng then takes a step back to regain his stance. Tong Jing then arrives. Ying Zhi then attacks hoping to do so before Yan Heng recognizes him, using Wudang Line Sword snake-like footsteps while using ‘Fu Lang’ of ‘Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger Sword’ to attack. Yan Heng is surprised because this attack is similar to Qing Cheng Sect sword technique. Even though he has never learnt this technique, it has the same pattern as that of Qing Cheng Sect 2nd introduction sword technique ‘Long Wo Sword Technique’, just that that this one has a wider angle as well as more movements in the body. That attack strikes past Yan Heng’s face and at the same time he uses his short sword and places it about 5-6 inches away from Ying Zhi’s long sword. Even though he did not strike out, he has already subdued Ying Zhi’s long sword based on his sword’s positioning and angle. Looking at how Yan Heng is emitting an energy like that of a steady mountain with no opening, Ying Zhi once again gets angry. He uses his short sword to point at Yan Heng’s left wrist using ‘Wudang Form Sword’ ‘Zhui Xing Jie Mai’ as well as Qing Cheng Sect ‘Yuan Suo Dual Sword’ technique. Yan Heng starts to get suspicious after seeing yet another Qing Cheng Sect move. Ying Zhi continues his attack and is surprised at how ferocious he is. He realized that it is upon seeing Qing Cheng Sect’s dual swords that it reminds of his betrayal. But he then tells himself that it is not betrayal and that the path that he has taken is the right path.
Yan Heng then quickly uses ‘Water Cloud Sword’ technique to use his long sword to counter. Ying Zhi hastily changes his move and pulls back his long word, evades the attack and then attack back. But this attack of Yan Heng is a feint, he then changes from a horizontal to a diagonal slash to attack Ying Zhi’s chest.
After once again being countered by Yan Heng, Ying Zhi gets angry. He jumps back to evade the attack, and immediately goes to a horse stance and uses ‘Shi Ming’ by pulling back his long sword and uses it to press against Yan Heng’s long sword from the bottom, and at the same time using his short sword to attack Yan Heng’s short sword. This special move was created to destroy enemy weapons. If this technique was used with the Qing Cheng sect dual swords its effect would be immense. But Yan Heng uses Jie Xiang ‘Fire Burning Body’ to once again use ‘ Shaking Scale‘ . Even though his is not as good as He Zi Sheng’s, it still manages to break ‘Shi Ming’. Looking at how Yan Heng is using ‘Shaking Scale’ for the second time, Ying Zhi is excited that Yan Heng’s ‘Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger Sword’ technique is limited. He thinks that that his victory is decided because he has learnt more techniques, this gives him a boost in confidence. Tong Jing who is observing from the sidelines notices how similar Ying Zhi is with Yan Heng.
Ying Zhi then continues his barrage of attacks on Yan Heng. Ying Zhi then uses ‘Tan Zhi’ which strikes from underneath his right armpit using his short sword to attack Yan Heng’s left elbow, before continuing his barrage of attacks. He wants to kill Yan Heng before he is recognized, so that Ying Zhi’s image of Yan Heng will only be a friend and not a killer for hire. But Yan Heng continues dodging and evading Ying Zhi’s attack. Ying Zhi attack has never once touched Yan Heng’s body, as most of the time it just brushes past Yan Heng. Tong Jing is starting to get anxious but Shou Ren mentions that Yan Heng will win. True to Shou Ren’s comments, Yan Heng is starting to adapt to Ying Zhi’s speed and vigor. The reasons that he is not shaken by Ying Zhi’s attacks are that he has gone through the training in the mountain (in the previous volume) , and also that he is not just fighting for himself. At this moment his aura, even though is not as ferocious as Ying Zhi’s, is starting to get wider. Ying Zhi slowly realizes that his attacks seem to getting further and further away from Yan Heng. Yan Heng finally attacks using ‘Fu Lang’, Ying Zhi is surprised that Yan Heng knows this move. Yan Heng then uses ‘Tan Zhi’, and that is when Ying Zhi confirms that Yan Heng has just learnt it from him. Ying Zhi then got surprised and angry; he spent many years learning ‘Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger’ Sword technique, but Yan Heng managed to absorb it in such a short period of time.
Ying Zhi then combines Wudang ‘Line Sword’ technique’s foot work and Qing Cheng Sect ‘Liu Feng’ technique to attack Yan Heng’s shoulder, thinking that Yan Heng cannot learn this move. But Yan Heng counters and attack Ying Zhi’s waist. Ying Zhi is about to dodge backwards, but this is actually a feint attack, Yan Heng then uses ‘Kai Yun’, a technique which Ying Zhi used earlier in this fight However, Yan Heng is not just copying it but rather using a feint to improve it. The reason he is able to do this is because ‘Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger’ techniques are based on Qing Cheng Sect 6 set of basic sword techniques, and Yan Heng is very familiar with it. Ying Zhi continues infusing Wudang Sword techniques to increase his powers and to confuse Yan Heng. But Yan Heng continues absorbing these sword techniques. However, he does not forcefully use these new techniques that he absorbed.
Note: In the novel Ying Zhi did not explicitly used ‘Kai Yun’ in the fight. So I supposed Ying Zhi used it but the author did not explicitly mention it.
After 10 + strikes Ying Zhi panics, he worries that if this continues, Yan Heng will surpass him. Tong Jing realizes that Yan Heng’s sword technique is starting to look more and more similar to Ying Zhi’s. It is as if they are sparring and Ying Zhi is teaching new techniques to Yan Heng. That’s when Ying Zhi decided that this will be the end. He takes in a huge breath, holds his short sword in a reverse grip and uses his legs and hips explosive strength to rush forward while keeping both of his swords close to his body. Other than ‘Qiong Cang Po’, this is another of ‘Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger’ killing technique: ‘Hu Lei Xiao’. (Translation is Tiger Thunder Howl)
Unlike ‘Qiong Cang Po’ which is like a dragon flying in the skies, jumping from a far distance to attack. ‘Hu Lei Xiao’ is imitating a tiger moving down a hill. It does not rely on stretching the user’s body and arms to attack but rather to use the legs and hips explosive power to use the user’s full body to attack. There is little movement being made when initiating this attack and since it relies on using 1 step to sprint forward, this attack unlike ‘Qiong Cang Po’, can only be used in close quarter combat. This is one of the few Qing Cheng techniques which uses ‘hard’ to counter ‘hard’. This technique is meant for higher level Qing Cheng Sect disciples; if the user’s strength is not developed enough or if user lacks the explosive leg power required, it will mean diving straight into the enemy’s sword.
Yan Heng knows that this strike is dangerous and knows that he cannot dodge this attack. This scenario is just like his training in the mountains where he is forced to face the tiger. He uses Jie Xiang of a tiger and with his short sword, he uses ‘Tiger Pounce’ to block the attack. Ying Zhi is shocked that Yan Heng is able to block the attack. In such a short distance and in such a short time, it would seem impossible to block the full body attack of ‘ Hu Lei Xiao’. But Yan Heng, with the Jie Xiang of tiger manages to block the attack. He then uses his long sword and uses ‘Shi Ming” to break Ying Zhi’s long sword.
Yan Heng then calls out Ying Zhi name asking him to stop. Ying Zhi then loosens up and takes down his mask. Actually, Yan Heng has already figured out that it was Ying Zhi before the previous attack. Yan Heng then coldly questions if Ying Zhi joined Wudang sect. Ying Zhi retorts angrily that he joined Wudang after the destruction of Qing Cheng.
Ying Zhi: “You don’t need to look at me like that. Yes! After Qing Cheng Sect’s destruction, I joined Wudang Sect. But so what? I know! I know what you would say next. You want to ask me if I remember who killed master, isn’t it? They are dead, all defeated by Wudang Sect, that’s all there is to it. Is that my responsibility? Do I have to give up my dreams? Xiao Liu (Yan Heng), do you still remember my dream?”
Yan Heng nods and questions Ying Zhi if he will still join Wudang Sect if even he himself was killed by Wudang Sect. Ying Zhi nods without hesitating, and says that he will live for the sake of Yan Heng’s. All these year, Yan Heng have always thought of having a lot to say when he reunites with Ying Zhi. But in the end after so many years, their first conversation would be like this.
Ying Zhi asks Yan Heng to allow him to kill Shou Ren. Yan Heng replies expressionless that what does killing Shou Ren has got to do with his dream. That’s when Ying Zhi realizes the implications of the danger that Xiao Yan (F) will face. He replies that he may lose an important person to him. Yan Heng notices that Ying Zhi genuinely cares for this person. But Yan Heng cannot agree, he says that Shou Ren is a very important person in the world, even more important than all the martial artists in the world. He mentions that the world is able to not have Wulin but it cannot not have Shou Ren. Ying Zhi then realizes that Yan Heng has changed a lot and that he is a lot stronger than him not just in the way of the sword. Yan Heng pleads with Shou Ren to let Ying Zhi off. Meng Qi He tells Shou Ren to agree. Shou Ren tells Ying Zhi that if he really is as hard working as he just mentioned himself to be, his sword should not be wasted on such things.
Yan Heng questions Ying Zhi about his sword technique. Ying Zhi replies that it is what Yan Heng think it is (‘Male & Female, Dragon & Tiger Sword’) and tells Yan Heng to take it as a gift from the heavens. Ying Zhi then leaves. As he left, Yan Heng is left thinking about the good memories of his time in Qing Cheng Sect, what Ying Zhi just said and him missing Song Li.
Chapter 5
Yan Qing Tong together with 10+ thugs are on their way to get rid of Hou Ying Zhi’s ‘family’ since he failed to kill Shou Ren. He has already tortured Cai Qing to get the location and whoever is in Ying Zhi’s house. Qing Tong is cursing in his heart as this is not the way of the Jiang Hu. Previously he tried convincing Jun Yuan that people in this trade has their own set of rules and they will not speak of this. But Jun Yuan doesn’t want to take any chances and decides to capture Ying Zhi. Qing Tong arrived at the house with 40 + people outside waiting to ambush. They then enter the building.
Lian Zhou awakes in his room. There are two things that can arouse a reaction from him; Xiao Yan (F) and killing aura. He immediately felt the thick killing aura but he cannot make any decision because he lack such thinking capability. However, he then hears the scream of Xiao Yan (F) and quickly leaves the room.
Scene changes to Qing Tong who found the maid and Xiao Yan (F). One of the bandit kills the maid. Qing Tong then looks at Xiao Yan(F) face and finds her familiar. Realizing who she is, he starts to order the rest to leave while attempting to leave the house himself. But halfway through he hears a noise from the outside.
Scene changes to Lian Zhou who dispatches the bandits outside with ease. He then finally reaches the room. As he enters, Qing Tong is holding a sword to Xiao Yan(F)’s neck. In Qing Tong’s eyes, Lian Zhou looks like a living walking demon and curses himself on his terrible luck. While in Xiao Yan (F)’s eyes, it reminds her of the time in the brothel when he fought so hard to protect her. It was the first time such a person appeared in her life, and she feels as though her life has been intertwined with his. But she felt that she had betrayed him. Qing Tong then pleads for his life; he is willing to let her go if Lian Zhou lets him go. Qing Tong is feeling very afraid. But Lian Zhou doesn’t understand any of it. Just then, Xiao Yan(F) says that she is not fit for him, and tells him to not worry about him and to just kills the rest. Listening to her voice causes a reaction in him, he then raises his head and steps forward. Thinking that Lian Zhou will attack, he drags his sword downwards but at the same time, Xiao Yan(M) arm burst from outside of the wall and grab Qing Tong’s elbow while Chen Yuan, with his sword stabs through Qing Tong’s head. Lian Zhou drops his sword and rushes to Xiao Yan(F) whose neck is filled with blood. He then cries for the first time in many years (he last time he cried was after killing his master).
Chapter 6
Nong Kun and the rest of his 70 Wolf Army is in Nan Chang and reached the outside gates of the Prince of Ning’s residence. The guards order the Wolf Army to surrender their weapons, which they did except for a blade on their waist which they refused to give up. Nong Kun says that when a tribesman reaches the age of 13, he will hunt for the first time and the elder will give this blade which is not supposed to leave the tribesman’s body. Nong Kun says that they will not go in if they are not allowed to carry the sword in. The guard is afraid that Jun Yuan will blame him hence he decides to allow it, and then asks those tribesmen with masks on to take them down.
He then proceeds to take down one of the masks, infuriating that tribesman to the point where he kills the guard on the spot. That is when 200-300 troops exit the surrounding houses and surrounds them. Jun Yuan then arrives. Nong Kun explains that those with the masks on are part of the Red Lou Dong people, their rule is that once they leave the mountains they have to wear the cursed mask. They are not allowed to show anyone their faces because if they do so their souls will be sucked away. Nong Kun explains that the Red Lou Dong tribesman killed the guard because he wants to take his soul back.
Nong Kun mentions that the Red Luo Dong tribesmen are known among the tribesmen to be fierce and courageous in battle. He suggests to let the 10 + Red Lou Dong people return if Jun Yuan doesn’t want them. But Jun Yuan who is desperate to get this group of people to join the Prince of Ning decides to let them in. All the men here are Jun Yuan’s and his father’s and none of Shang Cheng Yu’s. This deal of recruiting the wolf army is not known to Shang Cheng Yu. Seeing as how Cheng Yu left a few days ago, he will not let this chance go to waste. One soldier voices out the concern that the tribesmen are carrying blades but Jun Yuan brushes that aside. All of them then enter the Prince of Ning palace.
Note: While Cheng Yu and Jun Yuan both serves the Prince of Ning, there is somewhat like an internal struggle as Cheng Yu is also in good terms with the Prince of Ning.
Jun Yuan brings Nong Kun & the tribesmen to a bamboo shelter which is capable of hosting 200-300 people. Inside are tables filled with good food. He then invites Nong Kun and Yue Lang to dine in a banquet with his father. There are 4 tribesmen who accompany Nong Kun and Yue Lang, with a Red Luo Dong tribesmen being one of the 4. As Nong Kun is leaving he looks at a Red Luo Dong tribesmen who is in the bamboo shelter, that tribesmen nods in return. Surrounding the area are 10+ guards and unknown to them, all the tribesmen are faking that they are drinking and eating. And what they also failed to realized is that there are 2 tribesmen who split up from the group while the whole group is walking in the garden.
Jing Lie and Ling Lan take out the weapons that they have hidden in their clothes; which includes blades, catapult etc. Previously, Jing Lie has gotten intel containing the rough layout of this place. However, the person with the intel hasn’t been here many times and have no idea where Yao Hua is except that she is in the area where Shang Cheng Yu resides.
An advantage that the both of them have is that most of the guards will be protecting the Prince of Ning, his gold as well as army-related items. They will never have thought that there will be someone rescuing an unrelated woman. Another thing is that Prince of Ning is a superstitious person and has erected many statues, which the both of them are using as cover. There are a total of 3 inner walls from their current location to Cheng Yu’s residence, with 4 guards guarding the entrance and 2 on the roof. After observing the 2 guards on the roof for some time, Jing Lie and Ling Lan learnt about their behavior and their line of sight. They then make use of the timing when the guards are not looking and climb over from an area that is the darkest.
Scene changes to where Li Jun Yuan and his father are hosting Nong Kun & co. There are about 10+ bodyguards around Jun Yuan and his father. Nong Kun is acting as a translator for Yue Lang. Even though Yue Lang knows the language, he acts as if he does not know so as to buy more time for Jing Lie and Ling Lan. Jun Yuan is happy with this progress and is thinking of how to get more tribesmen to join the Prince of Ning. Nong Kun lies to Jun Yuan saying that Yue Lang needs more time to think about joining the Prince of Ning.
Chapter 7
Jing Lie and Ling Lan reach Cheng Yu’s residence. They notice 7-8 guards drinking in the house. One of Wu Ji Hong’s lackey is taking a piss, and gets threaten by both Jing Lie and Ling Lan and he tells them what they want to know.
Huo Yao Hua is lying on her bed when she heard something faint, something that was thrown inside from the outside. That’s when she saw the knife that is similar to the one Jing Lie carries. A guard moves closer to observe the hole in the door wondering what this is.
Note: In ancient times while a door/window can be made of wood, the whole door/window is not made of wood. There are soft material covering the wooden frame.
The guard has been guarding her for 1 year and since nothing has ever happened, his reflexes are slow hence this is a good chance for her to make a move. As the guard moves closer, Yao Hua jumps through the window killing him. She then moves, ready to kill two other guards at the other side. The 2 guards wield their swords the other way thinking of knocking her unconscious and not to kill her. But one guard knows how wrong he is after seeing how fast she is. Even though she hasn’t practice martial arts for two years, her capabilities fully awaken at the sight of the blood of the guard that she killed earlier. She proceeds to kill the 2nd guard, while Jing Lie kills the third. Yao Hua then turns back and saw the Jing Lie and Ling Lan. Looking at Jing Lie she has many things to say but nothing comes out from her mouth; she has never forgotten how he once tried to kill and her him. Previously, even though Jing Lie and Ling Lan had the intel from the guard, they were unsure if she was really in the building hence he threw the knife into the room. Gambling on that fact that ever since she has received the note he that sent via the intel guy (in the last volume), she has been waiting every day for this moment to escape. Jing Lie hides the dead bodies and cover the blood stain on the floor with sand, while Yao Hua asks Ling Lan about Xiao Yan(M). Ling Lan hasn’t heard anything but believe he won’t be killed so easily. Wei Dong Liu then appears saying that after the battle on Mt Wudang his sense of smell of blood is very sharp and he smelt it from afar. The 3 of them then run while Dong Liu and a few guards give chase.
Back to the scene at the banquet, Jun Yuan is puzzled by a sound. But Nong Kun and the tribesmen faces change, because that is the signal for them to get ready for battle. The masked Red Luo Dong tribesman who is Yuan Xing in disguise immediately takes Li Jun Yuan as hostage.
The wolf army outside the banquet heard the signal and starts attacking the guards. Even though there are 200-300 guards to 60 wolf army, the guards are separated into 7 to 8 groups. Lian Fei Hong who is disguised as a Red Luo Tribesman leads the front to attack the guards. It is mentioned that his Kong Tong Sect “Song Hun Flying Edge” skills of forcefully throwing his blades without any prior indication from his hands is probably only rivalled by Fan Zong’s sword-throwing techniques. The Wolf Army cuts down the bamboo shelter making it an obstacle for the guards. They are killing a lot of the guards. That is when Yuan Xing and co bring Jun Yuan as a hostage to where they are .
Chapter 8
Jing Lie uses ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’, killing 2 guards. While he is still spinning in midair, he takes out his knife and slashes another guard, nearly expanding all of his energy. And at the last moment he throws his blade hitting the 4th guard leg. This variation of ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ does not focus all of his energy in 1 strike, and it can be used in such situation. This is a new technique that he created in the past 2 years. Before using this, he actually ran little before jumping. This is something that he has thought of in the recent few months when he is thinking of how to get rid of the weakness of having to prepare before using this attack (Where he stands on 1 leg relaxing his body, preparing to jump forward). Though this variation’s strength is not as great as the original, it can be used in such a situation. The 3 continues escaping, killing any guards in front of them. Yao Hua is worried that Cheng Yu and Ji Hong will be here soon, but Jing Lie tells her not to worry. Previously he had Fei Hong stayed at Jiu Jiang to steal from businessman revealing that he is from Wudang Sect. He predicts that both of them will want to investigate this.
They reach a garden only to find Dong Liu and 40+ guards in front of them. Yao Hua wants to tell Jing Lie something but he knows that she wants to say that she is no longer the Yao Hua of the past. Dong Liu wants to deal with Jng Lie alone. Jing Lie wields a small blade in one hand while with his other hand he relaxes the iron spear-chain, letting it drop on the ground. Looking at Dong Liu, Jing Lie then remembers that he was on Mt Qing Cheng, but then notices that now he has changed, and that it must be the battle on Mt Wudang. Jing Lie finds it difficult to make a move. Likewise, Dong Liu did not make a move because he does not know what special moves Jing Lie will make, just like the ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’ that he saw earlier. He believes that Jing Lie has the power to challenge for the title of Vice Leader if he was a Wudang Sect member. A guard enters his range and Jing Lie kills the guard. Taking this chance, Dong Liu dashes forward and uses the same technique that he used in the previous volume whereby he dashes forward not revealing his attacking intent, only attacking when the enemy is forced to make a move and that is when he will counter attack. About 5.5 inch away from Jing Lie, his swords are pointing at Jing Lie. If he just extents his arm his swords will pierce Jing Lie’s heart. But Jing Lie doesn’t do anything. This is the first time Dong Liu is seeing this as usually his enemies will panic and hence make a reaction. At 4.5 inches away, Dong Liu left sword strikes at Jing Lie’s front while his right sword attacks the empty space at Jing Lie’s right side. But that attack is blocked by the chain of the chain-spear that Jing Lie planted on the ground earlier; he stepped on it while pulling it tightly. At such a short range, it is the deadliest attack range for Jing Lie’s short blade. Dong Liu loses his balance after taking such a big step and having his attack blocked, his front is completely exposed, Jing Lie slashes at him and Dong Liu tries to dodge but the blade still slices him, but Jing Lie can tell that it wasn’t a deep cut as Dong Liu then jumps backwards. Jing Lie then quickly kicks his chain-spear towards Dong Liu but he manages to block the attack. If Jing Lie continues his attack he would have won but that is when he realizes Yao Hua just took a hit. He then goes to help Yao Hua. After fighting for a while the guards realized that Dong Liu is on the ground and Jing Lie threatens to kill them. None of the guards dare to move forward and the three of them continue escaping.
Note: This chain-spear weapon is the one whereby he took the spearhead from Emei Sect’s Leader’s senior and added a chain to it. This happened many many volumes ago.
Chapter 9
It has been 6-7 days since Po Men Liu Jian, Wolf Army, Huo Yao Hua and Li Jun Yuan ran from Nan Chang . Jing Lie releases the Jun Yuan’s blindfold and tells him that he should kill him but because of the promise made to his father he won’t. Jing Lie also tells him that once they are sure that on one is following them they will release him.
After releasing him, they move off to another location before the Wolf Army leaves them. Yao Hua intends to go back to Lu Ling (the arc where Po Men Liu Jian fought here and WDK) to see if there is anything that she can do for the people there.
Scene changes to Hou Ying Zhi, where he is thinking about Xiao Yan (F): during a time when they are alone (after the battle of Mt Wudang) and she mentions that “Actually.. … What else do we need? … …” That is when Ying Zhi stopped smiling and starts thinking about everything that he has been chasing for. Her smiles disappear and she knows that she has talked about something taboo.
Back to reality as Ying Zhi enters the house hoping that Xiao Yan(F) is still alive. He then sees Cai Qing on a chair who is in terrible shape. He lifts Cai Qing up ready to him kill. Cai Qing mentions that he betrayed Ying Zhi and he has no regrets if Ying Zhi kills him, but Ying Zhi did not. He realizes that it is his fault, his fault that he decided to be a sword-for-hire, his fault for finding Cai Qing. Cai Qing then tells Ying Zhi that someone told him that if he is still alive he is to bring Ying Zhi over.
Cai Qing then brings Ying Zhi over to another house. Upon seeing a slender body covered in white sheet on a bed, he drops the items that meant a lot to him- his swords, on the drop and kneels in front of the dead body. So far in his life he has lost many things and every time he felt that he could take back what he has lost, but this time round he knows that he can’t take it back. This is the lowest period in his life. That’s when Lian Zhou enters the room with Xiao Yan (F), and behind them are Chen Yuan, Xiao Yan(M) and the third Wudang member (the one who travelled with Chen Yuan and Xiao Yan (M)). He wants to hug Xiao Yan(F) but ultimately he is suppressed by Lian Zhou’s aura. Even though he is a traitor and at the moment being surrounded by 3 great martial artists, he is at this moment not thinking about what will happen next. But rather he is thinking only about Xiao Yan (F).
Note: He think himself as a “traitor” only because he stole he Lian Zhou’s beloved.
Lian Zhou then says that his whole life he has always tried his utmost to get whatever he wants but this is the first time he feels that he cannot do such a thing. He leads Xiao Yan(F) to stand at the center between both men and says “Back then at Xi’An, I wasn’t really chosen by you. Now, you can choose again.”
Xiao Yan (F) tears up, saying that she does not deserve this. Lian Zhou replies saying that it has nothing to do with deserving it or not. What is important is what she wish for. She then looks at him for long thinking of how perfect he is, the feeling when she first saw him. But she turns to face Ying Zhi. Ying Zhi understands how selfish he has been. She looks at the sword on the ground, that he has given up the most important thing in his life. Knowing that it is his final chance he tells her that he needs him. She then jumps into his arms and they hug. Lian Zhou’s face is still as cold and emotionless, this result is what he had hoped for. From the start he can tell that Ying Zhi will never wield his swords again and has decided to live another life. At the same time, he wishes to be like Ying Zhi but he cannot, because he is Yao Lian Zhou. Lian Zhou then leaves with the rest. The rest look calm but only Xiao Yan’s expression is fake because he is thinking of Huo Yao Hua. Lian Zhou’s smile disappear as after abandoning what does not belong to him, he once again makes preparation to go into hell. Ying Zhi then tells Chen Yuan that he has seen Yan Heng and that the real “Male &Female Dragon & Tiger Sword” has resurfaced. Chen Yuan seems to not have any reaction but in his eyes, there is a small fire that is ignited.
The Prince of Ning has been planning to revolt for a long time and has been recruiting many fierce warriors. But among them is a group of extraordinary people that shocks Shang Cheng Yu.
Qian Ning and Jiang Bin political infighting intensifies, with the wild ambition of the Prince of Ning being the key to this.
As the situation changes, the Prince of Ning faces a decision of victory or defeat and in the process changes the destiny of everyone.
In amidst of all the chaos Wang Shou Ren faces his most dangerous and biggest challenge.
In order to defend the righteousness of the whole world, Po Men Liu Jian risks their lives to protect Wang Shou Ren.
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I was supposed to post a update but I guess I was too busy. I was actually translating it halfway till I got so busy with planning for a trip that I didn't have time to complete it before going on a long trip. I won't be back from this 'holiday' trip till January next year, and since I did not bring the novel with me I am unable to finish translating the current novel before I left. I contemplated posting a really short summary but I guess I was held up by other stuff.
I will post the completed translation of volume 17 once I am back home in January. Volume 18 is actually out in Hong Kong before I left in August, but it wasn't available in my country before I left. Once I am done with this current volume in January I will proceed on the next volume. I don't have a ETA on the next volume as I have yet to read it yet, but I guess you can check back once every one month or so.
--- Double Post Merged, ---
I have been holding on to this for about a year. Initially I wanted to translate the whole volume before posting this but I realised I should post this first before continuing. My progress on this translation have been terrible due to poor time management and a terrible decision to attempt to translate volume 17,18 and 19 at the same time.
I have made a decision to summarize my future translations due to lack of time and I will be done with all the 3 volumes by the end of June. Volume 17 Chapter 1 & 2
Chapter 1
6 months ago, Yan Heng received the manual of ‘Male and Female, Dragon and Tiger’ sword technique from Hou Ying Zhi. Along with the manual is a book written by Ying Zhi regarding his thoughts and analysis about the Male and Female, Dragon and Tiger sword technique. However, Yan Heng did not practice as what Hou Ying Zhi has written down. Yan Heng has his own way of thinking and he can tell that Hou Ying Zhi is too forceful in trying to incorporate Wudang sword techniques together with Male and Female, Dragon and Tiger sword technique, to try to strengthen the technique. But Yan Heng believes that in the midst of doing so Ying Zhi lost the original principles of the technique.
This is a good period of time for Yan Heng to receive this gift. Now that his life has temporarily settled down he can spend time to think about how he wants to move forward. Initially his plan was to rebuilt his sect but now that he is a fugitive he cannot do so. Also, he feels that his martial arts is not good enough. And he keeps thinking about how Ying Zhi has thought it through in life. These past 6 months have been a very happy period for him. His experience with Ying Zhi has taught him one thing: not to be pressured by the past or the future, but just to live life at the moment. This is aligned with what he learnt in his Shan Luo training: do not be too fixed with the sword. He then understands why He Zi Sheng looks so excited even when dueling Ye Chen Yuan. Tong Jing then sits down and leans on his shoulder.
Earlier on, Tong Jing was training with Fei Hong. Fei Hong has been selectively teaching her part of the ‘Eight Greats’ technique, teaching her only things that are useful to her. But during training she doesn’t seem to put her heart into it and is tired after practicing with the heavy pole. Fei Hong berates her saying if her heart has once again flown to Yan Heng. Tong Jing retorts angrily that he is not her master and that she didn’t beg him to impart her martial arts. She then runs away.
For Fei Hong, every day is a challenge. He is not getting a lot of sleep and when he wakes up his joints feel very stiff. Every morning he stretches using ‘Yi Jin Jing’ (a Shaolin technique). After which he heads out into the forest to warm up, so as to get his body back into condition. Even though the dense forest is not a good place to train, he doesn’t want the others to see this weak version of him. Every day he has to spend longer time warming up to get back into his ‘normal’ condition. He questions himself if it will deteriorate to the point where he can’t even practice martial arts? The 67 years old man has long ago realised that as he gets older, he will start to lose everything and everything will go downhill. Not just because of age, but also because of the wound Lei Jiu Di gave him. Ever since that fight, he has lost a great deal of confidence. One day when he is practicing he is thinking what is the point of training so hard. Every day after training till the point where he is tired, he will think of what techniques to pass to Tong Jing and that is when he gets excited. His biggest fear is to one day die on the sick bed. The only thing that can suppress this thought is the thought of Tong Jing. He firmly believes that if she continues training for 10+ years, she can be like Yao Lian Zhou or even a grandmaster who can create her own sect. He intends to live as long as possible, so as to see that Tong Jing. But for the past 2 years her progress has stopped and he knows it’s because her heart is distracted by Yan Heng.
Back to Yan Heng and Tong Jing. Yan Heng has learnt about 80% of the sword manual. Even though there are still parts that he is unsure of, he knows the essence of the sword technique and if he spends a little more time he should be able to understand it all. And all this time Tong Jing has been helping him, even though she has limited real fighting experience and understanding of ‘Dragon & Tiger Sword’ technique, she has managed to spur Yan Heng into thinking of new ideas and manage to help him overcome many obstacles. This goes to show how smart she is when it comes to martial arts. Yan Heng notices that Tong Jing hasn’t been practising with Fei Hong for a few days.
Ever since the events of the previous volume, Po Men Liu Jian has been staying near Wang Shou Ren in case of any emergency. Knowing that they are fugitives, Wang Shou Ren let them stay at a ex-bandit hideout.
Ling Lan is going to get married to Jing Lie. Ling Lan tells Tong Jing that initially the reason she came to China to search for Jing Lie is to defeat him, if not to marry him. But ever since he created the ‘Lang Hua’ technique and has recovered, she is no longer his match. Tong Jing questions her if she will stop practicing martial arts? Ling Lan says she will continue practicing and that Jing Lie told her to not give up the way of the martial arts. Jing Lie is in love with the Ling Lan who practices martial arts . And now he doesn’t want her to become someone else. Now her reason of practicing is different, she is now fighting not to defeat anyone but to protect him. Tong Jing questions what Jing Lie will be doing next. She knows that even though she hasn’t heard Jing Lie speak much about reviving Nan Hu Hai Sect, she knows that Jing Lie won’t stop no matter how high the obstacle. That’s when Ling Lan’s face slightly changed.
Yuan Xing has been drinking alcohol for the past few months, also he has been eating lesser and has stopped bathing. His hair has grown and he now looks like a beggar. The scene changes to where Tong Jing, Yan Heng and Yuan Xing are together. Yuan Xing is drunk and starts fighting with Yan Heng. Normally Yan Heng wouldn’t mind training with Yuan Xing but not now when he is in such a condition, hence Yan Heng is reluctant to do so. It is stated that Yan Heng’s techniques has improved and so has Yuan Xing’s rod techniques which now incorporates Kong Tong Sect’s ‘Hua Fa’ and staff techniques. Everyone knows that Jing Lie is number one among them and everyone else believes that Yuan Xing edges Ling Lan over as the second strongest. Now that Yan Heng has gone through additional training he wonders what is the gap between him and the monk. Initially he is only defending however after this thought he decides to attack. Yan Heng uses Jie Xiang and uses ‘Hu Lei Xiao’ but ultimately the practice swords that he is holding cannot handle Yuan Xing’s strength, hence he drops his swords and back rolls. This is when the rest arrives. Yuan Xing challenges Jing Lie to a fight and wants Jing Lie to use ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’, but Jing Lie tells him to stop and that this “killing aura” emitting from Yuan Xing cannot fool him. Yuan Xing then gives up; initially he was hoping to fight Jing Lie with his full strength.
After having being exposed by Jing Lie, Yuan Xing then explains himself. When he initially first left Shaolin, he didn’t like that Shaolin is not doing anything to stop Wudang Sect. He was thinking of killing some Wudang members or even get himself killed just to get Shaolin Sect involved. However, the truth is that he also wants to prove with his own hands that Shaolin Sect martial arts is better than Wudang’s. After the battle at Xi’An, his Grand Shi Bo did not allow him to return and advised him to see the world. However even up till today he still does not know what his Grand Shi Bo meant. Thinking back on his journey, he feels that Yao Lian Zhou set up the 5 years truce because of Jing Lie, Yan Heng and Tong Jing. He can tell that Yao Lian Zhou could see the potential of Tong Jing and wants to see her growth. He tells her not to let others down. As of now, the 5 year truce is already over and Tong Jing wonders if she has reached Lian Zhou’s expectations?
While he is grateful for this friendship, ultimately he is a monk and this is not what he is pursuing. Hence he can’t think of a reason to stay. Everyone is surprised by this. The reason he became slimmer was because he has been thinking more deeply than ever and due to the change in his heart it causes his martial arts to improve. But ultimately he still cannot catch up to Jing Lie. Ever since Jing Lie learnt ‘Lang Hua Tie Zhan Shi’, he has been thinking about what he should be chasing after. Hence he decides to leave after the wedding.
8 days later, Jing Lie and Ling Lan get married. During the wedding Ling Lan starts thinking about her family and tears, but Jing Lie holds her hands. She left her family back at home but now she found her own family. Jing Lie has never felt such happiness before. Wang Shou Ren is also there.
The next day, Wang Shou Ren and Yuan Xing left. Yuan Xing tells Tong Jing that they will meet again. Then tells Yan Heng that he is on the right path and if he continues he won’t lose to Jing Lie. To Fei Hong he tells him not to force himself. He tells Ling Lan to quickly give birth to a son and guarantees that he will defeat Jing Lie. And to Jing Lie he says that he is glad that he got to know Jing Lie in Xi’An.
The next day Tong Jing decides to train with Fei Hong. She decides to be different from Ling Lan; they all think that to attain the peak of martial arts you have to give up something in return. But if she is the genius that everyone says she is, then she can do what others can’t. Hence she will be the first expert martial artist who gets married.
Scene changes to Ling Lan and Jing Lie. Ling Lan tells him not to change his path just because of her. She encourages her to do what he wants. Jing Lie is very touched. Without Wudang Sect, there is only one way to carry on the path of the strongest and that is to challenge others. But unlike Wudang, he will not oppress others and destroy those who don’t agree. He just wants to prove that he is the strongest. Jing Lie tears, he remembered when he was young and he arrived back home and found everyone dead, that was the day when he also teared. That day he lost his family but now he also has a family. The long loneliness for him has finally ended.
Chapter 2
Han Shan Hu and 7 Mi Zong Sect members are in Nan Chang City. 3 years ago after the battle where Lei Jiu Di killed by Jing Lie, Mi Zong Sect’s reputation took a big hit. Shan Hu was supposed to be the next leader. But the power temporarily lies in the hands of Han Tian Bao and the other elders. Han Tian Bao simply don’t trust Han Shan Hu because he knows of Han Shan Hu’s shady nature. The elders heard about the event where Lei Jiu Dai slaughtered many Mi Zong Sect members from Shan Hu’s mouth. However, they do not trust him and title of leader was temporarily halted. That is when a lot of people left the sect. Shan Hu also started drinking and waste his life away. But then these 7 Mi Zong Sect members continues training as they want to kill Jing Lie and return Mi Zong Sect to its rightful place. This inspired him and he stopped drinking and started re-training. In other to bring glory to Mi Zong sect, they decided to head to Nan Chang City to work for the Prince of Ning.
On the 10th day in Nan Chang, Han Shan Hu blinds 5 Prince of Ning’s men in the one eye each to attract attention. The next day Wu Ji Hong arrives and allows Han Shan Hu to be part of Prince of Ning’s gang. But Han Shan Hu says that he only wish to serve under Prince of Ning, implying that he will not be someone under Wu Ji Hong. Wu Ji Hong mentions that this depends on the decision of Prince of Ning and the generals and also they have to see the capabilities of Han Shan Hu.
Security in the manor is very tight. Upon arrival of the gates, there are 10 + guards and 1 guard took Han Shan Hu’s token and combines it with another wooden board to see if the words on it are fully fitted. This wooden board is changed every day to prevent intruder from sneaking in. All weapons are confiscated and they are body searched. Then another group of soldiers checks if Han Shan Hu’s name is on the list of those who should enter today. The people from Mi Zong Sect are then split into two groups and took different paths to their destination. Han Shan Hu is happy that security is tight thinking that Prince of Ning is someone worthy to serve. But what he doesn’t know is that this is because 1 year ago, Po Men Liu Jian infiltrated the residence.
The 8 Mi Zong Sect members arrive at Shang Cheng Yu’s manor and wait for Shang Cheng Yu. But after a long time, no one entertains them. One of the Mi Zong Sect member gets angry, and fights the guards without killing them. It is then revealed that Shang Cheng Yu and Wu Ji Hong are summoned by Prince of Ning. That guy is unhappy. That’s when the guard retort that they are not the only one today who have come to serve under Prince of Ning. The reason Shang Cheng Yu and Wu Ji Hong are summoned by Prince of Ning is because the other person who arrived is a very extraordinary person.
When Shang Cheng Yu and Wu Ji Hong enters the most guarded area in the residence, all the important figures (but Prince of Ning) are there. Shang Cheng Yu looks at Li Jun Yuan and is surprised that he returns the look. Ever since the Po Men Liu Jian incident, he has taken quite a shock and there was a period where he does not dare to see outsiders and even during meetings, he would always avoid Shang Cheng Yu’s and Wu Ji Hong’s eyes.
Prince of Ning then enters and says that over the years he has gathered more and more manpower and the Imperial Court have yet to discover anything. However, this means that he has to spend more money which results in more pillaging around the regions. Shang Cheng Yu realises that Prince of Ning looks even more excited than usual and has something he can’t wait to say. Prince of Ning then questions Shang Cheng Yu’s loyalty, if he is willing to offer everything, if he is willing to let go of his personal enmity to serve the Prince of Ning? Shang Cheng Yu then feels a chilliness, like those 7 years when he was trapped in Mt Wudang. Even Wu Ji Hong is shaken by this. Shang Cheng Yu says yes and Prince of Ning invites ‘them’ to enter. One of Prince of Ning advisors notices a strange change in Shang Cheng Yu wonders what kind of monster is it that is able to cause such a reaction in Shang Cheng Yu. Then enters Yao Lian Zhou, Xi Xiao Yan and Ye Chen Yuan. Wu Ji Hong crushes the seat handle drawing attention from the people in the hall. But Shang Cheng Yu ‘s expression is very calm, he puts his hands on Wu Ji Hong arms and gets him to calm down.
Yao Lian Zhou introduces the 3 of them and shocks everyone; these are the people who with just a few hundred people managed to defeat half of the Diving Engine Department of the Imperial Army. Yao Lian Zhou says he is willing to serve under Prince of Ning as he has made an enemy out of the Emperor and wants to get revenge and he wants to revive Wudang Sect. This surprises Shang Cheng Yu and what is even more surprising to him is that the 3 of them then kneels and kow tow to Prince of Ning. This goes against everything that Shang Cheng Yu knows about Yao Lian Zhou. Li Jun Yuan is very happy that he finally got the Wudang Sect leader to serve under the Prince of Ning. Shang Cheng Yu congratulates Prince of Ning. Li Jun Yuan is thinking that he delivered a slap to Shang Cheng Yu by bringing his mortal enemy here. Prince of Ning then accepts the 3 of them to be under his service and gives them each the title of general. He then promises to rebuild Wudang Sect.
Thanks for reminding, I do have 3/4 of the next novel summary translated, I need to dig the translation up. Anyway moving forward, I will do short summaries for the remaining novels. The series has actually ended but I myself have yet to read the last 2 novels.
Wow thank you so much! I've been coming here once in a while just waiting your translation! You don't know how much it's appreciated! Take your time buddy!
Wow thank you so much! I've been coming here once in a while just waiting your translation! You don't know how much it's appreciated! Take your time buddy!
I'm just glad that there are people still reading it. Will get the next volume out by end of the year and all of the rest in shorter summaries by the end of next year.
Comments (because I got no one else in the real world to talk to regarding this >.>) : I was surprised that Wu Ji Hong wasn’t lying about the whole ‘Shang Cheng Yu was poisoned’ story. At least Yao Lian Zhou doesn’t know about this.
I was also really surprised by this! I honestly thought Wave Dragon King was lying. I love how things aren't clear cut black and white in this story. So Shang Cheng Yu was REALLY powerful, wow.
And thank you very much for writing these summaries in such great detail! You give us even more info than the manhua does, which is amazing. You often said that you wanted to make shorter summaries and release them more quickly, but I prefer that you take your time and give us as much detail as possible =)
You said that you wrote a lot of text to capture the flavor of the story, and I am very grateful of that.
Just wanted to say that I love martial arts stories and wuxia. I feel that these days, Xian Xia is a lot more popular than wuxia. But I vastly prefer wuxia, and Blood and Steel is my 2nd favorite wuxia story after Smiling Proud Wanderer.
I love how the characters in Blood and Steel have such depth, the author did a wonderful job at breathing life into both the protagonists and antagonists. The art from the Manhua is gorgeous too, too bad the manhua is on hold right now.
The martial arts fights are great! Techniques with a lot of flavor, and a lot of strategies involved. The fights feel realistic and coherent, rather than supernatural like in Xianxia.
I also like how well researched this story is. Set in the Zhengde Emperor's era, with great depictions of military tactics, such as the big battle between the Jiang Xi villagers led by Wang Shouren and WDK's forces, where morale, flanking, surprise, formations were depicted with such great detail! Plus the bluff by Wang Shouren and his 7 guards who didn't pull out their swords on purpose, that was the perfect poker play that made Wu JiHong fold haha
Again, this is my 2nd favorite wuxia story behind Smiling Proud Wanderer. I like so many of the characters:
---Jing Lie, Linglan, Hou Yingzhi, Yan Heng (and normally I do not root for protagonist), Jiu Niu (I wanted him to survive... but his sacrifice was heroic and meaningful), Jiu Di (what an amazing martial artist! Sometimes only eccentric lunatics can think outside the box and create powerful martial arts, think Ouyang Feng haha)
- Wu JiHong: I love his art design in the manhua, and his hedonistic outlook on life, a nice contrast with his monk-like appearance lol. His arc was interesting too, that was a really well done.
Villagers vs bandits arc, written with a really serious, mature atmosphere: people getting murdered, intimidated, raped, because that is what bandits really did. And farmers were who oppressed by bandits AND corrupt officials often were so desperate that they themselves joined the bandits, making things even worse. So it made me root for the villagers more, made the heroes, Wang Shouren's and Jiu Niu's sacrifice more valuable. It's rare to see novels written like this, with a serious, psychological tone.
-Yao Lianzhou (he was already interesting, then his origin made him even better! It makes so much sense why he is the perfect disciple to master Tai Chi, and I like how it was written "he would have no chance at success in Huashan or Kongtong, but Wudang was the perfect and only place he could blossom"
-Also loved the duels at Huashan. Throughout the 2 battles, the author did a great job depicting the personalities of the fighters:
-Huashan Headmaster Liu Zongwu had incredible determination, as shown by him enduring the cold in a snowstorm as a child. That flashback scene and the final duel scene did a great job at showing the terror Liu felt after facing Yao.
-The author also told us that Huashan martial arts had Taoist roots, and so a person must have the virtues of patience, calm and self-control to truly master those arts. Liu had strong determination but he lost his temper more quickly than his student Sima, who seemed to have the potential for greatness. All the major Sects have powerful arts, but Liu's personal qualities were not as great as an ultimate prodigy like Yao Lianzhou or He Zisheng, so Liu was defeated after an amazing battle.
So thanks again for writing these very detailed summaries! Reading them really made my day. Every 10 years, I discover only 3 or so stories that I enjoy this as much as this one. Jin Yong and Gu Long were excellent authors. And Qiao Jingfu learned from there and wrote a great story, with his own, amazing style!
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