Chapter 1880

Liang Da Zhuang didn't dare to linger at all; if it weren't for the sudden attack of the bird flock, perhaps the gray-clothed woman and Xiang Qin would already have joined forces against him. He realized in his heart that he must have been exposed, that there was no returning to Hu Xiaotian, and at the same time he had to avoid Xiang Qin and the gray-clothed woman, all of whom would be detrimental to him.

Although Liang Da Zhuang's body was fat, his movements were unusually agile; he actually managed to find a gap in the frenzied attack of the bird flock, slipping through, and fled northward at astonishing speed. His footwork was actually more nimble than that of the equally plump Xiang Qin, and before long he had shaken off the birds, seeing the densely packed dwellings ahead. Liang Da Zhuang felt greatly relieved in his heart, thinking that he was ultimately fortunate; if he could successfully escape this calamity tonight, he would thereafter have to live under an assumed name, but how long could he keep living? Thinking this, Liang Da Zhuang felt a tightness in his chest; he also knew he shouldn't dwell on it, and the most realistic thing was to first get past this immediate obstacle.

Liang Da Zhuang felt the surroundings gradually grow quiet, with no more clamor from the birds; turning around, he saw that there wasn't a single bird left, and only then did he relax a little, but it seemed as if dark clouds were gathering overhead. He looked up, and saw a figure swooping down from the sky straight toward him.

Liang Da Zhuang stepped forward, grabbed a nearby stone pedestal, and hurled it at the figure in the air. The stone shot forth like a cannonball, whistling as it tore through the air. Seeing the stone coming, the figure in the air remained calm, performed a mid-air turn, nimbly dodged the stone aimed at him, then passed over Liang Da Zhuang's head and lightly blocked his path, smiling and saying, 'Liang Da Zhuang, you have great daring, daring to strike even me!'

Liang Da Zhuang looked at Hu Xiaotian, maintaining full composure despite knowing he had been exposed, and with a half-smile said, 'Young Master, it's so late—why aren't you back resting?'

Hu Xiaotian laughed, 'You really do care about me.' Although he had long known Liang Da Zhuang was problematic, tonight he had finally caught him red-handed, and the moment had come to reveal the truth.

Liang Da Zhuang sighed and asked, 'Young Master, do you want to kill me?'

Hu Xiaotian replied, 'If I wanted to kill you, why would I have kept you alive until now?'

Liang Da Zhuang asked, 'When did you discover it, Young Master?'

Hu Xiaotian said, 'For several years.'

'Your scheming, Young Master, is truly deep!'

Hu Xiaotian said, 'It's also been forced upon me.'

Liang Da Zhuang asked, 'Will you let me go, Young Master?'

Hu Xiaotian countered, 'If it were you, how would you treat someone who betrayed you?'

Liang Da Zhuang shook his head and said, 'Between us there's no talk of betrayal; from the start I never devoted my loyalty to you, and Zhou Mo and Xiao Tianmu are the same.'

Hu Xiaotian slowly nodded; Liang Da Zhuang's words were indeed correct—they had approached him with ulterior motives from the beginning, so betrayal didn't apply.

'Was it the old lady who sent you?'

Liang Da Zhuang nodded and said, 'My mission was originally not to monitor you, but to serve Hu Buwei; your rise was purely accidental, something even the old lady hadn't anticipated.'

Hu Xiaotian smiled and said, 'It seems you already know many things, yet you managed to deceive me for so many years.'

Liang Da Zhuang said, 'In the end it was inevitable that you would find out; in fact I had already sensed your suspicions earlier, but I still harbored a sliver of hope—I should have left long ago.'

Hu Xiaotian said, 'Perhaps you had no choice?'

Liang Da Zhuang sighed, 'Yes, I had no choice! If I left like this, the old lady would certainly not let me off.'

Hu Xiaotian asked, 'Is Xiang Qin also a member of the Xu clan?'

Liang Da Zhuang said, 'If you want to know why, why don't you ask yourself? I don't know much, and you certainly won't get the answer you want from me.' He placed his hands behind his back, lifted his head, and said, 'Whether you kill or cut me, do as you wish; after all we have been master and servant, I am no match for you, I only beg you to leave me a whole corpse, give me a straw mat, and don't let my body be exposed in the wilderness.'

Hu Xiaotian sighed and said, 'Liang Da Zhuang, you are indeed shrewd, but I never intended to kill you—you may go.'

Liang Da Zhuang blinked in surprise; he hadn't expected Hu Xiaotian to let him go so easily, but then he thought, even if he escaped Hu Xiaotian's pursuit, the Xu clan would still be after him, and in this vast world where could he flee to?

Xiang Qin's goading seemed to work on Xiong Tianba, who said, 'What you say makes sense; otherwise I'll give you a large hammer, and we'll each have one for a fair contest.'

Xiang Qin laughed, 'Now that's more like it—at least show some manliness.'

Xiong Tianba raised his arm and suddenly hurled the large hammer over; he wasn't intending to hand it over willingly to Xiang Qin, this flying hammer strike was even heavier and more forceful than before, and the goading had absolutely no effect on him.

Seeing the spinning hammer flying toward her, Xiang Qin dared not block it head-on, cursing, 'You shameless scoundrel!' She leapt aside to dodge the hammer, while Xiong Tianba charged forward with another large hammer, laughing loudly, 'My third uncle said what matters is winning; face or no face doesn't matter.'

If Hu Xiaotian heard that brat's words, he would probably want to kick him flying, but he never said that; he only said that in battle the most important thing is to win, while the latter part was Xiong Tianba's own invention.

Seeing Xiong Tianba charge, Xiang Qin could only keep retreating; his hammer slammed into the wall with a boom, raising dust and causing a large section of the wall to collapse. Facing the tiger-like Xiong Tianba, Xiang Qin could only keep stepping back, dodging his sharp attacks, retreating while looking for a chance to escape. She finally made it out of the alley, about to flee, when she sensed something odd behind her; she dared not look back, and by moonlight glanced down at the ground, only to see a stretched-out shadow right beside her, filling her heart with sudden panic.

Xiong Tianba, caught up in the killing, shouted, 'Third uncle, please don't interfere—this fat woman is mine!'

Hu Xiaotian let out a hollow laugh; Xiang Qin now realized that the person behind her was Hu Xiaotian. She felt despondent, knowing that with her own martial arts she had no chance of defeating Xiong Tianba, and now an even more formidable Hu Xiaotian was added. It seemed she would surely not escape tonight; thinking this, she actually stopped fleeing, halted her steps, and stood there.

At this moment Xiong Tianba's large hammer, wrapped in a gale, was already striking toward her face; if it hit, the result would inevitably be a shattered skull.

In an instant Xiang Qin's face drained of color, almost believing she was doomed to die. Feeling the gale toss her hair into disarray and painfully slash her face, she then heard Hu Xiaotian's stern voice shout, 'Stop!'

The main target of the bird attack was still the gray-clothed woman; she broke through the birds' blockade and fled straight southeast, her lightness skill far surpassing Liang Da Zhuang and Xiang Qin, and after a few leaps she had vanished into the night.

Having left the range of Qinghong Ge, the gray-clothed woman turned back to gaze; her eyes, shadowed by the hood of her cloak, were overcast with deep gloom. As she prepared to continue her escape, she saw a figure appear ahead.

The opponent wore a red tight outfit, a black long robe fluttering like a banner in the night wind, a silver mask on his face; under the moonlight cold light glinted, and his deep gaze through the mask's openings fixed on the gray-clothed woman, and he said softly, 'National Preceptor, how have you been?'

The gray-clothed woman slowly lifted her head; moonlight illuminated the face hidden in shadow, her facial contours still stiff. She was evidently surprised that the other had not seen her true face, wondering how he had recognized her; she likewise recognized him, and said coldly, 'Ji Feihua! You're still alive?'

Ji Feihua said, 'Everyone in the world thought Su Yujin came from the Wuxian Sect, but who would have guessed her true identity is that of a guardian of the Xu clan of Jinling.'

As it turned out, this gray-clothed woman was actually the National Preceptor of Tiangxiang State, Su Yujin; she is also the wife of Mu Rongzhan and the birth mother of Murong Feiyan.

Su Yujin chuckled and said, 'I never expected the renowned Ji Feihua to have fallen to the point of becoming someone's lackey and accomplice.'

Ji Feihua said, 'You betray your own husband and sacrifice your own daughter—how can someone like you be fit to be a wife and a mother?'

Su Yujin nodded and said, 'Go die!' She let out a sharp cry and suddenly lunged at Ji Feihua; midway, she shook her hands, and dozens of transparent flying knives rained down like a shower of flowers toward Ji Feihua.

Ji Feihua swung her right arm in a clockwise arc; time seemed to slow in an instant, the flying knives' speed visibly decreased, beginning like slow motion in a film, and then they all came to a halt. Her palm opened like an orchid, then suddenly contracted; the dozens of flying knives followed her motion, as if pulled by invisible threads toward the center, where they collided and shattered, turning into countless tiny fragments. The fragments from the shattered blades were then stimulated by Ji Feihua's inner power and shot back at Su Yujin at astonishing speed.

Su Yujin's eyes widened; she extended her left hand, and a dark shield the size of a flying disc appeared before her palm. With this small shield as its center, light burst forth instantly, a green radiance enveloping her entire body; the knife fragments struck the light shield like raindrops and immediately dissipated.

Ji Feihua pushed off with her left foot, leapt into the air, and as her body plunged downward, her pure white right fist slammed hard into the light shield; this punch almost possessed the power to split mountains and shatter stone. Striking the shield, the green light surged, and although Su Yujin's feet remained on the ground, she was shaken by the tremendous force and slid backward more than ten zhang.

Ji Feihua followed her first punch with another, giving her opponent no chance to catch a breath; without the light shield's protection, Su Yujin would almost certainly have already been defeated. She had withdrawn from the shadows and stepped into the moonlight, which flowed like water, bathing both of them. At this moment Ji Feihua slowly drew her light sword; the green blade merged with the moonlight, producing a vibrant, life-filled verdant hue. (To be continued~^~)