Chapter 1456

Hu Xiaotian drew the soft sword from his waist, placed the hilt in her hand and said: "The sword technique I taught you, you have all remembered; this sword will temporarily be left for you to defend yourself. When we return to Dongliang Jun, I will help you find a sword that fits your hand." He had already taught the Spirit Snake Nine Swords to Long Xi Yue for her self-defense; Long Xi Yue is ice-snow smart, her grasp of this sword technique is faster than Hu Xiaotian's initial learning, but she is too weak in internal energy, so the sword technique lacks killing power.

Long Xi Yue nodded, saying very seriously: "I have made up my mind; from now on I will follow you and earnestly study martial arts. Once I have mastered martial arts, I can accompany you on adventures."

Hu Xiaotian felt a surge of emotion in his heart; this beautiful princess had changed so much for him. He whispered: "Actually, there is a shortcut to practicing martial arts; I have a way to make you a martial arts master in a short time."

Upon hearing this, Long Xi Yue was overjoyed, full of longing, and said: "Teach me, just teach me!"

Hu Xiaotian leaned close to her ear and whispered a few words; Long Xi Yue's pretty face instantly flushed to her ears, she clenched her pink fist and lightly punched Hu Xiaotian's chest, then said angrily: "You just like to deceive people!"

Hu Xiaotian laughed as he left the carriage, waved at Liang Yinghao, gesturing for the convoy to start; Zhan Peng and Liang Yinghao both clasped fists toward Hu Xiaotian at the same time, leading the team gradually away.

A Black Kiss Bird fluttered its wings in the sunlight and landed in Xia Zhangming's palm; its black beak chirped nonstop. Xia Zhangming listened very attentively; after a moment, he slightly raised his hand, and the Black Kiss Bird shot up like a black arrow into the sky.

Hu Xiaotian's gaze followed the direction the Black Kiss Bird flew, but he saw a large mass of heavy clouds slowly moving from the eastern sky toward their heads.

Xia Zhangming said: "Looks like it's going to rain."

Hu Xiaotian said: "It's not necessarily bad; at least it helps conceal our presence."

Xia Zhangming said: "My lord, can you be sure that person is the Beast Demon Yan Huyiao?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Probably." He had never seen Yan Huyiao's appearance either, but since Ji Feihua recognized him, it shouldn't be wrong. He asked: "Is Yan Huyiao very formidable?"

Xia Zhangming nodded and said: "My lord should remember what I told you before. Beast tamers are divided into three major factions; our faction mainly drives and controls flying beasts, the Wuxian Sect mainly controls poisonous insects, and the Hundred Beasts Gate mainly controls land beasts. Usually our beast-tamer lineage does not list the Wuxian Sect among them, but the Wuxian Sect has grown stronger over the years. They consider themselves superior and are unwilling to associate with us."

Actually, in the past there was no major conflict between us and the Hundred Beasts Gate; both major factions follow a principle that all things in this world are equal, and we treat flying and land beasts with equal regard. However, the Hundred Beasts Gate has deviated in its development. To enhance the combat power of beast tamers, they resort to the method of frenzy, no matter how inhumane.

Hu Xiaotian asked: "What is frenzy?"

Xia Zhangming said: "Simply put, it's using drugs or other vicious means to drive animals mad. My lord, you should know that a mad dog dares to fight a pack of wolves, and a mad bull can gore a fierce tiger to death, right?"

Hu Xiaotian nodded; it seems the Hundred Beasts Gate's method of driving animals mad is truly inhumane. Eliminating such a sect is also justified; it counts as removing a harm for the people.

Dark clouds covered the sky, and it grew ever darker, yet no rain fell. Hu Xiaotian and Xia Zhangming lay in ambush in the dense forest of Sword-Washing Mountain Villa, seeing the villa's master Liang Buzhou leading six subordinates away.

Xia Zhangming released the Black Kiss Bird. He waited silently for the bird to return.

Hu Xiaotian also could only envy Xia Zhangming's talent for communicating with birds. While waiting for the Black Kiss Bird to return, he couldn't help thinking of the Flying Eagle; unfortunately, the Fragrant Kingdom is too hot. The Flying Eagle cannot adapt to this climate. If this time they could bring the Flying Eagle and the Snow Eagle here, work efficiency would surely improve greatly. From Sword-Washing Mountain Villa to Happy Forest, riding a horse takes about half an hour; that is, if news of what happens here reaches Happy Forest, the fastest reinforcements from Happy Forest would arrive in an hour. Hu Xiaotian and Xia Zhangming must complete all their tasks within that hour.

Suddenly a sharp bird call came from the air; it was the Black Kiss Bird flying toward their hiding place, while a black hawk pursued relentlessly behind. The Black Kiss Bird, relying on its small size and agility, constantly changed direction in the air to maneuver against the hawk.

The hawk's flight speed was astonishing; it seemed about to catch the Black Kiss Bird, but suddenly a low call came from the forest. Upon hearing it, the hawk's neck feathers stood up one by one, obviously frightened; it watched helplessly as the Black Kiss Bird escaped, not daring to continue the chase, and flew in a circle out of the woods.

At the critical moment, it was Xia Zhangming who imitated a bird's call to scare the hawk away.

The Black Kiss Bird landed on Xia Zhangming's shoulder, still shaken, chirping nonstop.

After listening, Xia Zhangming said to Hu Xiaotian: "Inside Sword-Washing Mountain Villa there are about a hundred beasts, but the guards are few, not more than ten people in total."

Hu Xiaotian said: "I'll handle the people; leave these over a hundred land beasts to you."

Xia Zhangming said: "Expertise has its specialization; my skill in controlling land beasts is not as good as Yan Huyiao's, but I have a way to entangle these land beasts. As the saying goes, 'to shoot a person, shoot the horse first; to capture a bandit, capture the leader.' The same principle applies to dealing with land beasts: among a herd there must be a leader; once the leader is defeated, the rest will scatter like monkeys when the tree falls."

Hu Xiaotian said: "The simplest and most direct method is just to kill the Beast Demon Yan Huyiao!"

Xia Zhangming said: "Let's lure them out first, then talk." He drew out a jade flute and blew gently; the flute's sound was not pleasant, it had a strange quality. Hu Xiaotian naturally understood that Xia Zhangming was not playing music, but summoning flying beasts.

One swallow flew low, then two, three; swallows gathered more and more, circling and dancing around Xia Zhangming's body. Hu Xiaotian stepped aside; looking from afar, he saw that within a radius of ten zhang around Xia Zhangming's body were entirely flying beasts, mainly swallows, and as Xia Zhangming summoned, bats began to appear around him as well.

The birds flapped their wings, forming a huge black vortex that slowly rose and drifted toward Sword-Washing Mountain Villa. Hu Xiaotian gazed at the magnificent scene and felt secretly relieved, fortunate that Li Chang'an had recommended Xia Zhangming to him; with Xia Zhangming's beast-taming ability, if he were on the opposing side, it would surely give him a headache.

Xia Zhangming's flute suddenly turned shrill; the bird flock surged like a black torrent and slammed into the gate of Sword-Washing Mountain Villa. If it were just a single bird, striking the gate would surely shatter its brains and kill it, but the force of several thousand birds concentrating on the gate was earth-shattering, actually piercing the gate in one blow.

The Beast Demon Yan Huyiao naturally also heard that earth-shattering crash of the gate breaking; he looked toward the gate, instantly feeling something was wrong, his throat let out a roar, a black tiger sprang up before him, Yan Huyiao leapt onto its back and, like a black bolt of lightning, charged toward the gate.

Before Yan Huyiao could leave the western courtyard, the sky was filled with dense swallows that swooped down like a pressing dark cloud.

Two elders rushed out of the house, and with them came six Blue Wolves. Yan Huyiao shouted a command: "Old Fang, open the pen and release the wolves!"

Accompanied by the creaking of the iron fence, fifty Blue Wolves appeared in the courtyard; as soon as they appeared they leapt and bounded, devouring the swallows in the air.

Yan Huyiao said: "You deal with them; I'll go check it out!" Looking at the situation, the swallows covered the sky and swarmed in; this could not be a coincidence, there must be a beast tamer behind it, and this beast tamer must be a top expert. Yan Huyiao's first thought was Li Chang'an. In his impression, there are not many experts of this caliber; could it be that Li Chang'an came in person? Speaking of which, he and Li Chang'an actually have a deep grudge; last time he pursued Li Chang'an all the way to near Yongjiang, nearly killing him, and if it weren't for someone intervening, Li Chang'an would probably already be dead by his hand.

Just as Hu Xiaotian climbed over the wall and entered, four Blue Wolves lunged at him madly. He drew his long sword, the wind howling, made a sweeping arc cut, and severed the four Blue Wolves at the waist, blood spraying everywhere.

Yan Huyiao had already approached nearby; seeing the unexpected visitor, he felt a startle. Hu Xiaotian had not revealed his true appearance, so Yan Huyiao naturally did not know his identity. Seeing that the opponent cut down four Blue Wolves with a single move, it was evident he was a top-tier swordsman.

Hu Xiaotian saw Yan Huyiao appear, tapped the tip of his foot and lunged at him, holding the thought of 'capture the bandit by capturing the leader'; as long as he killed Yan Huyiao, Sword-Washing Mountain Villa would naturally collapse without attack.

When Hu Xiaotian moved, Yan Huyiao clamped his legs on the black tiger, but the tiger did not go forward; instead it turned and fled backward. Nearly twenty Blue Wolves bared their cold fangs and surrounded Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian's body leapt into the air, using the Art of Soaring to dart out from the encirclement of the Blue Wolves.

Those twenty Blue Wolves had blood-red eyes, fixedly staring at Hu Xiaotian's direction of advance, madly pursuing him.

Hundreds of swallows swooped down from the air, pecking at the Blue Wolves' bodies. Although the Blue Wolves were ferocious, the swallows outnumbered them; in a one-on-one fight a single swallow would certainly not match a Blue Wolf, but a flock of swallows came wave after wave, fearless of death, making the battle between flying beasts and land beasts fiercely chaotic and unprecedentedly brutal. The moment a Blue Wolf bit a swallow, hundreds of swallows would swarm onto it, frantically pecking with their beaks.

Immediately a few more Blue Wolves joined the battle; these Blue Wolves were well-trained and actually knew how to support each other.

This is today's Third Update! Two more updates will make Five More. Seeing the message from Alliance Leader Meiyan Gong, Zhangyu was moved and also stimulated, decided to strive; Five More is mandatory, the sixth update will be a thank-you return! (To be continued~^~)