Chapter 727

Xi Yan shot out two flying knives that came whistling; the bloodthirsty sky bat, before the flying knives hit it, tilted its wings slightly and already changed its flight trajectory in the air; its blood-colored wings sliced through the rain threads, like two red arc-shaped lightning bolts flying from both sides toward Xi Yan.

Xi Yan's delicate body retreated swiftly backward; silver light glinted between her cherry lips, yet she was holding a silver small flute; the small flute made no sound, but from the eaves all around a black mass of bats flew out with a clatter; the bat swarm bravely went forward, blocking the path of the two bloodthirsty sky bats.

A melee was inevitable; although the two bloodthirsty sky bats were several times larger than those bats, they were nonetheless outnumbered a hundredfold, and in an instant they fell into a fierce battle.

Li Yishui's short, stout body spun like a top in the rain; a thick snake as big as an arm rose from his body, flew several zhang and lunged at Xi Yan in the rain. A white light flashed from Xi Yan's body and shot out—it was that white snake; the white snake was only as thick as a thumb, compared to Li Yishui's great black snake it was merely a petty witch seeing a great witch.

The black snake opened its huge mouth and actually swallowed the white snake in one gulp.

The two bloodthirsty sky bats grew braver as they fought; in a short while they had driven the bat swarm into disarray, dead bat corpses littered the ground, and the bat swarm's formation began to collapse.

Peng Yijiang's eyes had already begun to rot; he poured three pills from his personal vermilion-red gourd, stuffed them into his mouth and chewed and swallowed them gulp after gulp; this was the unique detox pill of their Flamboyant Gate; although he did not know what poison he had been afflicted with, taking the detox pill should alleviate the onset of the poison's effects.

Peng Yijiang's tall, gaunt body sat cross-legged in the mud, palms together, murmuring incantations; the muddy ground around him began to writhe, and soon colorful poisonous insects crawled out of the mire. The insects crawled onto Peng Yijiang's body; from afar his whole body appeared covered in poisonous insects, as if wearing a variegated armor—this is the Flamboyant Gate's unique secret technique: Poison Armor.

Yang Xuan watched from afar; she did not join the melee, although her martial arts were decent. However, she knew nothing about poison use—let alone fighting this group, even just watching made her feel creepy. At that moment she heard urgent hoofbeats outside the gate; Yang Xuan's expression shifted slightly, and she quickly slipped away toward the gate.

Leaving the inner court, she said to the two female guards stationed there: "Guard the gate. Without my order, no one may enter or leave!"

"Yes!"

Hu Xiaotian spurred his horse into a mad gallop; the Qichen Palace was already in sight, its gate tightly shut. Hu Xiaotian leapt off his horse, strode swiftly to the gate, clenched his right fist and pounded heavily on the gate, shouting: "Open the gate! Open the gate!"

Soon the gate slowly opened from within, and Yang Xuan leading four female guards appeared before him. Seeing Hu Xiaotian drenched from head to toe in rain, Yang Xuan's expression showed a hint of surprise. Inside she was utterly puzzled: how did this rascal return safely again? She feigned astonishment and said: "Sir Hu, weren't you off to the palace?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Where is the Princess?"

Yang Xuan said: "She has already rested!"

Hu Xiaotian ignored her and strode toward the inner court.

Yang Xuan suddenly drew a phoenix-feather knife from her waist and slashed at Hu Xiaotian's neck from behind; the motions of drawing, pulling back, and swinging the knife were seamless. The blade's light cut through the rain threads, then like mercury pouring onto the ground, it fell silently and soundlessly onto the back of Hu Xiaotian's neck.

Hu Xiaotian stepped forward one pace; his soft sword sang as it shot out, he backhanded it to block behind himself, the sword blade parried Yang Xuan's blade; the tremendous impact of the phoenix-feather knife bent the soft sword backward, sparks flying, water splashing. At the instant the blade and sword met, Hu Xiaotian took two large steps forward, his body successfully turned around, the corner of his mouth curling into a cold smile. After he had slain the three false eunuchs Bai Desheng, he had already suspected that the problem most likely lay with Yang Xuan. Yang Xuan could not possibly not know Bai Desheng; as the commander responsible for security at Qichen Palace, if she did not know Bai Desheng she would not have easily allowed him to follow her, so the only remaining possibility was that Yang Xuan had colluded with Bai Desheng.

Hu Xiaotian coldly stared at Yang Xuan: "Vile wretch! You actually colluded with outsiders to harm me!"

Yang Xuan gave a glance; the four female guards spread out from around and closed in on Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian did not wait for them to form an encirclement; he rushed toward Yang Xuan, shaking his slender sword, employing that move from the manual. He sought a quick victory; if this move could successfully project sword qi outward, it should be able to cut down Yang Xuan beneath the sword qi, making the remaining four female guards much easier to deal with.

The phoenix-feather knife traced a flower in the rain, emitting a sharp whistle; the power contained in the blade forced the rain threads apart, sweeping outward in rolling waves like a tide. Who would have thought that Yang Xuan's seemingly delicate frame actually harbored such immense, overbearing power?

Hu Xiaotian's sword failed to emit sword qi; his soft sword and the phoenix-feather knife clashed again, with a bang! Rain poured down from heaven and earth onto Hu Xiaotian's body, he gained no advantage; hurried footsteps sounded from within, and more than ten female guards came running from inside to reinforce.

Hu Xiaotian's soft sword twisted like a spirit snake; he feigned a thrust, repelled Yang Xuan, then flew toward his own courtyard.

Yang Xuan shouted angrily: "Seize the assassin! Do not let him escape!" Her behavior at this moment was essentially a thief crying "catch the thief!"

Hu Xiaotian was not fleeing; his reason for rushing into his own courtyard had two points: first, to obtain a handy weapon—having tried several times, his soft sword could not freely emit sword qi, so he apparently needed the great sword Hidden Edge Sword; second, because those female guards had already blocked the road to the inner court, Yang Xuan's shout might alarm many people, and it was unclear whether these guards were her allies, but in the absence of Huo Shengnan, they naturally obeyed her orders.

The courtyard where Hu Xiaotian stayed and Xi Yan's inner court were separated by only a wall; with his current martial arts he could easily leap over it.

Yang Xuan, gripping her phoenix-feather knife, closely followed Hu Xiaotian into the courtyard; two female guards drew their bows, nocked arrows, and aimed at Hu Xiaotian; Hu Xiaotian slammed his shoulder against the door and burst into the room; just as he entered, two feathered arrows struck the door frame, emitting a "da-da!" sound.

Yang Xuan's phoenix eyes glimmered with a cold light; she gritted her teeth and said: "Ready the wall-piercing arrows!" Behind her, six female guards took wall-piercing arrows from their quivers; the arrowheads of these arrows were specially made, shaped like a spiral, and the fletching differed from ordinary arrows; once shot, the arrows spun rapidly around their axis while flying straight, giving them tremendous penetrating power.

Yang Xuan gave a harsh shout: "Fire!" Six arrows were released together, with a "swish, swish..." six wall-piercing arrows shot from the window lattices and walls into the room.

Hu Xiaotian had already found the Hidden Edge Sword; hiding behind a corridor pillar in the darkness, though he could not see the outside situation, his keen perception played an important role—from the whistling of the feathered arrows flying through the air he had already judged their position and speed. His steps shifted, seeking gaps where the arrows could not reach; gripping the great sword Hidden Edge Sword, he leapt up, broke through the lattice window, and reappeared in the rainy night; at that moment he swung the Hidden Edge Sword in a diagonal chop, the internal energy infused into the blade; as he swung, sword qi detached from the blade and flew out, instantly expanding to a length of one zhang; dense raindrops fell upon the invisible sword qi, unable to penetrate even a bit, actually forming in the night a transparent outline one zhang long and about two chi wide.

Seeing the scene before her, Yang Xuan's face changed; she hurriedly retreated backward.

The six female guards drew their bows, nocked arrows, preparing another round of shooting; before they could finish that motion, the transparent sword qi had already severed the longbows in their hands, with a series of "bang! bang! bang!"—the bowstrings and bow bodies breaking continuously; the sword qi was irresistibly sharp, and within its reach it was like cutting rotten wood; the six female guards had no time to flee before the icy sword qi sliced across their chests, blood spurted skyward, a foul smell permeated the area, and Hu Xiaotian actually slew six female guards with a single sword.

He looked toward Yang Xuan; seeing the situation turn bad, Yang Xuan was frightened and turned to flee.

Hu Xiaotian could not let her escape; he backhanded another sword swing, sending a blade of sword qi flying sideways; Yang Xuan sensed danger, hastily raised her hand to block with her knife; she overestimated her own ability and underestimated the power of Hu Xiaotian's sword qi; the icy gleam in the rain was crystal clear, like thin ice from afar, rain striking the outline produced a hazy mist; Hu Xiaotian's strike aimed at Yang Xuan's legs—he did not intend to kill her with one blow, but kept her alive to learn the full truth behind the affair.

Although the phoenix-feather knife blocked part of the sword qi, the sword qi split into two halves, each slicing toward Yang Xuan's legs.

Yang Xuan felt intense pain in her lower limbs; she lowered her head to look and found her legs still intact attached to her body, secretly relieved; seeing that Hu Xiaotian's third attack had not yet been launched, she thought now was not the time to flee, she stepped forward, but her body suddenly lost balance and she fell with a plop into the mire; it turned out her thigh had actually been severed by the sword qi—though she had not moved her leg earlier, it remained attached, not yet separated; this step completely severed the broken thigh.

Yang Xuan's two severed legs remained standing there; her body flopped onto the ground with a plop; she turned her head and finally realized what had happened, seeing her two severed legs slowly sinking into the mire; Yang Xuan could no longer suppress her inner terror and screamed loudly.

Hu Xiaotian looked at her with disdain, did not rush forward to strike her; strange wailing sounds came from the inner court, obviously the fierce battle was still raging. For Hu Xiaotian, nothing was more important than rescuing Xi Yan.

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