Chapter 20: Apricot Forest Shallow Wind (2)

Li Si saw that he was originally full of anger, but when his hand touched the hilt, he had already become calm, his figure and momentum were impeccable, so she knew it was not easy to deal with, stepped lightly, and paid attention to defense in her heart.

Helian Wenren was known as "Urgent Thunder and Startling Electricity," and his sword technique was as fast as lightning and as urgent as thunder, naturally swift and unparalleled. When he shook his sword, Li Si felt as if she had fallen into layers of exploding thunder and lightning in an instant. She only felt that one sword was faster than another, and there were sword shadows in all directions. Although she knew that every sword was a move of the Thousand-Character Heart-Piercing Sword, before she could respond, she was already forced by the sword momentum. Even if she saw the flaws, she couldn't fight back in time. She didn't dare to be careless, displayed her body technique to be fast against fast, moving like a light wind, and it was difficult to see the shadow. Helian Wenren's long sword couldn't hurt her, but she could only dodge, but had no strength to fight back.

At this time, someone suddenly shouted loudly from behind the curtain, "Untainted by a speck of dust!"

Hearing this, Li Si didn't think about it, and the long sword in her hand flew forward, the sword like moonlight, silver light splashing, just meeting the sword wind coming from Helian Wenren.

With a crisp sound of *ding*, Helian Wenren's long sword was hit by her, and the move "Thousand Miles Without Smoke" could not be used.

Only heard that voice say again, "One glance toppling the city!"

Li Si turned around and struck with her sword, smiling beautifully. The beauty danced gracefully, her posture was elegant, and a cold light shot like a star, breaking into Helian Wenren's sword energy.

Helian Wenren's figure stagnated, and he was actually forced back half a step by her.

"One leaf knows autumn, one end to a hundred ends." The person behind the curtain constantly pointed out, followed by "One wave and three turns," "One stroke and done," "One inch of heart," "One throw of a thousand gold," "One flight to the sky," "One point of spiritual rhinoceros"... Various moves came from the sword techniques of various sects in the Jianghu, all starting with the word "one." He picked them up and said them casually, and Li Si actually matched them, without any disorder. Helian Wenren's sword momentum was fast, but the person seemed to know his thoughts, and every move he said always allowed Li Si to seize the opportunity in time and attack his must-save.

One move was controlled, and everything was controlled. Helian Wenren's long sword was forced by Li Si's flowing water-like offensive, and he was angry and murderous.

Blocking Li Si's sword again, his eyes suddenly burst with light, his figure stood still, and amidst the roar, a move of "Thousand Mountains and Ten Thousand Waters" slashed down!

A three-foot long sword, the momentum was urgent, like a thousand-zhang waterfall, flying wildly, carrying a fierce True Essence, covering Li Si head-on with an unstoppable momentum.

Li Si flew to meet the sword, a harsh sound of *zheng*, the two swords met, Li Si's arm went numb, and the long sword was almost shaken out of her hand. In her desperation, she turned around and retreated, spinning several times in mid-air to resolve the opponent's angry wave-like force.

Helian Wenren forced her, still a move of "Thousand Mountains and Ten Thousand Waters," True Essence penetrating the sword! Although Li Si's sword moves were exquisite, her internal strength was far from Helian Wenren's. At this time, she felt strenuous to block a sword, so she withdrew and retreated, not daring to touch his edge, and had already retreated to the vicinity of the hanging curtain.

Helian Wenren knew her weakness and was determined to shake her and injure her under the sword with his thick internal strength to capture her and search for the antidote. At this moment, he sneered, actually using ten percent of his power, "Ten Thousand Waters and Thousand Mountains" remained unchanged, and the long sword slashed down rapidly.

Someone behind the curtain gave a light shout, "Li Si, retreat!"

Li Si's figure flashed and disappeared into the curtain like light smoke. Helian Wenren's sword momentum did not stop, still slashing down directly.

The hanging curtain in front of the seat suddenly rose, and a pale and slender hand, like flowers and willows, waved lightly outward, and immediately fell behind the curtain again.

Helian Wenren hadn't seen the action of that hand clearly, when the long sword was swept by a extremely soft True Essence, and a chill suddenly rose. Knowing something was wrong, he retreated rapidly. Unexpectedly, before he could stand still, a cold force suddenly came from the sword, and his whole body shook violently. His eight extraordinary meridians were like being filled with an ice tide, and he couldn't hold on, retreating three steps in a row.

Barely standing still, a red tide flashed on Helian Wenren's face and disappeared. After several times in a row, he finally returned to normal, looking at the hanging curtain in suspicion, "May I ask who is behind the curtain? With such means, why not show your face!"

The person behind the curtain coughed lightly, then coughed again, and then was quiet for a while, as if waiting for his breath to calm down, before saying indifferently, "To see me, you are not worthy. Even if Helian Yiren came, I might not be willing to see him."

Helian Wenren's heart was suddenly angry, and he said coldly, "An honest person doesn't do dark things. Who is your Excellency? Offending the Helian Martial Arts Hall, you must think twice!"

The person behind the curtain seemed to smile. "A thousand miles of Netherworld land, the sun and moon do not touch the clothes—you must have heard this sentence."

Helian Wenren and the others all changed color. "Mingyi Tower!"

People in the Jianghu would have a shock when they heard these three words. No matter who it was, as long as they provoked the Mingyi Tower, they had one foot in the Shura Hall. No matter who went against the Mingyi Tower, no matter how big the world was, it would be difficult to find a place to stay. Not only the Jianghu martial arts, but even figures like King Xuan had to rely on the Mingyi Tower, and even the Shao Yuan Jun, who held power in Chu State, was unwilling to easily conflict with it—this was also one of the reasons why Huang Fei was so wary of Zi Rao at Jingyun Mountain and finally agreed to retreat from Xichuan.

The mystery of the Mingyi Tower—no one knew who their leader was. The power of the Mingyi Tower—no one knew how big it was. It was like a surging dark current, running through the entire Nine Domains and even the imperial capital, but no one knew where the source was.

However, the power of the Helian Martial Arts Hall was also no small matter, running rampant in the Jianghu, how could there be a reason to be beaten at the door? If they let it go today, the Helian family wouldn't have to stand in the Jianghu in the future.

"The Mingyi Tower and my Helian Martial Arts Hall have always been well water not violating river water. You ruined a big event of ours in Chu State a few days ago, and today you hurt people for no reason. This is really unreasonable."

Helian Wenren's words were still polite, but the person behind the curtain said indifferently, "There is nothing unreasonable. I think you are not very pleasing to the eye. Go back and tell Helian Yiren that he didn't teach his son well, so I will end it for him, so as not to cause trouble to the nine clans in the future. As for you people, go and kowtow to the girls of the Jiu Yi tribe to apologize, and I will spare your lives today."

Such impolite words only made Helian Wenren furious, and he shouted loudly, "Your Mingyi Tower is too bullying!" His sword light flourished, "Form the Thousand-Character Sword Formation!"

At this loud shout, more than a dozen disciples of the Helian Martial Arts Hall flew up with swords, urging True Essence. As the disciples moved, layers of clothes crossed and flashed, and a fierce sword energy rolled up all around. The tavern was suddenly filled with cold sword light, and it rushed toward the hanging curtain like snow waves without a moment's pause.

The hanging curtain was lifted by the rapid wind, and that hand appeared again. A snow-white hand, slender fingers, five fingers waved, like stroking a light string, and a piece of white flew out all over the sky.

It was apricot blossoms, white as snow, light as catkins. Points of flying flowers rushed to the face, and in an instant, they turned into thousands of charming shadows. Ice and snow couldn't suppress the spring color, the cold light dissipated, and amidst the lingering faint fragrance, flowers fell like rain. The tight sword formation was actually disintegrated in an instant.

Flowers flew and danced all around, falling softly on the sword edge, a piece of warm light like jade, clean and untainted by half a killing intent. But the disciples of the Helian Martial Arts Hall screamed and fell out of the formation covering their faces.

At this time, no one noticed that two men appeared at the door of the tavern at some point, one in black and one in blue. One had a straight figure and a cold expression, and the other had a light robe and a face like a spring breeze. At this time, Helian Wenren shouted angrily and attacked the hanging curtain again. The man in black moved his shoulders, but heard the man in blue say, "Since you are in the former state, leave it to me." As he spoke, he floated out, and suddenly there was a thin, sharp sword in his hand. With a *chi* sound, the clear sword light appeared and disappeared, and he retracted it into the scabbard. He had already landed in front of the crowd.

The sword light flashed like lightning, and the disciples of the Helian Martial Arts Hall felt pain in their palms. More than a dozen long swords fell to the ground with a *ding-dang* sound. Only Helian Wenren's long sword did not leave his hand, but he was shocked into a cold sweat.

It turned out that when the sword light appeared, the man in blue had stabbed twelve swords in an instant. The twelve extremely fast sword sounds were connected into one, sounding like only one sword stabbed out, one sword wounding the enemy. Helian Wenren was known as "Urgent Thunder and Startling Electricity," but he found that if the other party hadn't shown mercy, his sword would have been lying on the ground long ago.

There were still sword lights that had not passed away beside the crowd, hidden in the flying flowers all over the ground. A silver-scabbard long sword hung loosely at his waist. The man in blue turned around with a faint smile and bowed to the hanging curtain, saying gently, "Su Ling is late, please forgive me, Young Master."

He was Su Ling, the Crown Prince of the former state, whose sword technique was as famous as Huang Fei's and whose benevolence and righteousness were comparable to the King of Chu.

The person in the curtain smiled slightly, "Since you are here, leave the matter here to you."

"Yes." Su Ling lowered his head slightly, turned to face the people from the Helian Martial Arts Hall, and smiled, "Master Helian, I did not expect to meet you here again so soon after we parted."

Helian Wenren came to the former state this time specifically to buy war horses. The war horses of the former state were famous all over the world. In this era of frequent wars, the quality and quantity of war horses often determined the strength of a country's military power. Chu State was militarily strong and adjacent to the former state. The two countries had a large number of war horse transactions every year. The Helian family and Su Ling had frequent contacts, so they were quite familiar.

Helian Wenren cupped his fists and said, "Young Master Su, our two countries have always been on good terms. The Mingyi Tower is committing crimes and hurting people in the former state. I wonder what this means?"

Su Ling glanced at the pained Helian Qi and said, "If you are willing to give me some face and leave immediately, Master, at least the lives of the others can be preserved. Otherwise, it will make things difficult for me."

Helian Wenren's eyes were sharp. "Young Master wants to shield the Mingyi Tower!"

Su Ling said gently, "Master Helian, Mingyi Tower is an honored guest of my Xi State. To be an enemy of Mingyi Tower is to be an enemy of Su Ling, and also an enemy of the Xi State. I ask that you think carefully, Master."

He spoke elegantly and appropriately, but Helian Wenren was shocked. He never expected that the former state would be willing to offend Chu State for the sake of the Mingyi Tower. Who was the person behind the curtain, and what was it that could make the entire former state be used by him? Compared with this, the external transmission of the Helian Martial Arts Hall's sword technique became a trivial matter. All this was between thoughts. He said coldly, "In that case, Young Master is determined to be an enemy of my Chu State?"

Su Ling didn't answer, just turned to look behind the curtain. There was silence behind the curtain. After a while, the tired voice of the person came out, "I'm afraid the Helian family alone cannot represent Chu State. The war horses of the former state are just not sold to Helian Yiren."

Su Ling then smiled, bowed to Helian Wenren, and said, "I will immediately order someone to return the deposit paid by Marquis Helian, and compensate you with twenty thousand Chu Gold as agreed. As for the ten thousand warhorses previously promised to you, I am afraid our state is unable to fulfill that."

Helian Wenren was furious to the extreme at this time, but instead calmed down. The crowd was in the former state. If they came hard, they would definitely not be able to ask for anything. Moreover, the war horse matter was of great importance, and he couldn't turn his face and ignore it. He looked at Su Ling coldly, "Your country's feelings today, my Chu State has recorded it, but I hope Young Master will not regret it in the future."

Su Ling laughed instead, "The warhorses of the Xi State are not being sold to the Helian family, but that does not mean they are not being sold to the Chu State; please do not misunderstand, Master. As for your nephew..." He paused, pondered for a moment, and said to the inside of the curtain, "Although Helian Qi's conduct is usually improper, his crimes do not warrant death. Could the Young Master spare his life this once?"

But seeing the hanging curtain move, Li Si flashed out and smiled, "He won't die. I said earlier that it's not poison. Soak in clear water for three days, and it will be fine. But remember not to move True Essence within a month, otherwise it will be hard to say."

The moment the hanging curtain rose, Helian Wenren glanced at it and actually saw Qie Lan, the junior sister of Huang Fei and the Princess of the Jiu Yi tribe. The hanging curtain fell in an instant. He was stunned for a moment and didn't see the person beside Qie Lan clearly, but as if he suddenly thought of something, killing intent flashed in his eyes. "Let's go! Young Master Su, we will see each other again!"

In a short time, the people of the Helian Martial Arts Hall left cleanly. Su Ling smiled indifferently, not worried because he had added such a powerful enemy as the Helian family. When he turned around, he had changed his address and suggested, "Master, it has been a long journey for days, would you like to enter the city for a rest, and go to Xi Ma Valley tomorrow?"

Zi Hao stood up, met Qie Lan's inquiring gaze, smiled lightly, and said, "It doesn't matter, let's go."

Su Ling didn't say much and bowed to obey.

I don't know why, facing the Eastern Emperor at this time, Qie Lan suddenly felt a strange feeling—he seemed to have many things waiting to be done, unwilling to waste any time. Every smile of his was like an invisible mask, every word of his would change something, and every decision of his had an inexplicable deep meaning. Such him, such an Eastern Emperor, this man named Zi Hao, after appearing in such a big contrast with her imagination, was like a deep ocean, attracting her and confusing her. Until many years later, Qie Lan knew that he and she were destined before they met, and life, death, love, and hatred were never up to her...

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 21 =====